A herd trampling on a woman vet and injuries inflicted on former home secretary David Blunkett highlight the risk of attacks by cattle, especially if calves or dogs are nearby. Anushka Asthana reports on the need for ramblers to be ‘animal aware’
Thomas De Quincey, the 19th-century critic and essayist, once stated: “Cows are amongst the gentlest of breathing creatures.” Many might disagree.
Farm worker Mike Scriven, for instance. He was left with severe bruising last week after being chased across a field by a 450kg cow. Scriven, 46, who was trapped under the animal’s body for almost an hour, escaped only by gouging its eyes repeatedly.
Or David Blunkett, the former cabinet minister, who is nursing two broken ribs after being charged by a cow while walking his guide dog, Sadie, in the Peak District this month.
A third incident ended in tragedy last weekend. Liz Crowsley, 49, a vet, was trampled to death by a herd of cows in the Yorkshire Dales. Her two dogs, a spaniel and collie cross, fled to safety.
Perhaps the animal for which De Quincey professed a “deep love” is not always as docile as city dwellers might think. Figures reveal that attacks by cows are by no means unusual. According to data released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), there have been 67 incidents in the past five years in which a member of the public has reported being injured by cattle. In six of the cases, which do not cover 2009, the person was killed.
The risk is even greater for farm workers whose injuries are recorded separately. Over the same period there were 23 fatal incidents involving farmers and their employees, another 300 that resulted in “major” harm and 277 in which the injury took more than three days to heal. Far more go unreported.
Blunkett has been inundated with messages from people who have suffered similar attacks. “I have had letters flooding in – from people telling me about personal experiences, family experiences, who have been in hospital for three weeks after an incident, who have had family members killed, and a couple of letters from people whose dogs were crushed,” he said. People had also thanked him for drawing attention to the problem: “If I hadn’t been who I am, no one would know about it. Although I went to hospital I doubt they would have reported it. There is usually a category for road traffic accident – but for being crushed by a cow?”
Blunkett, MP for Sheffield Brightside, was out walking with his son on his 62nd birthday when they came across the cattle. They put Sadie on a lead to walk around the animals when one cow broke away and charged towards them. “My son was trying to protect me but the cow decided to have a dive at the dog and it knocked me down,” he said. “I think it kicked me because I have bruising all over and a couple of broken ribs.”
After the incident, Blunkett said he had found out there was a new cross-breed of cow. “A particular strain from Europe that is more aggressive,” he said, arguing that in such cases temporary electric fencing should be used. “Most of the rights of way in the Peak District cross over fields, so I think fencing should be considered, and walkers have to be extremely careful – especially if they have dogs.”
Since right to roam legislation opened up vast areas of the countryside, the HSE has published guidance about the “potential hazards” posed by cattle. It tells farmers to “plan and take action”. Tips include assessing if the animals are generally placid or well behaved, erecting temporary fencing and placing signposts on paths. “If you have an animal known or suspected to be aggressive, then you should not keep it in a field that is used by the public,” it warns.
Tony Mitchell, from the HSE’s agriculture and food sector safety section, said: “Cattle are classed as a non-dangerous species and by and large are generally docile. Their inquisitive nature is often mistaken for aggression. However, if they feel threatened by unusual disturbance, such as dogs, or when maternal instincts are aroused, then they may react in a threatening manner.”
According to the HSE, the two most common factors in attacks involving members of the public are “cows with calves” and “walkers with dogs”.
“Over the years a lot of people have been under the misconception that a bull in a field is the most dangerous thing,” said Alistair Bull, livestock manager at Thelveton Farms, near Diss in Norfolk. “The most serious incidents take place when there are groups of suckler cows that have calves with them – because they have that maternal instinct to protect their calves. You would not walk into a pen with elephants or giraffes when they have just given birth.”
Bull said he advised walkers not to let dogs off their leads when close to cattle. “What happens is the dog gets chased and it runs straight back to its owner with a cow in hot pursuit. And cows do not tend to attack singly. If you think of wildlife programmes, the matriarch comes forward with her infantry behind. To a person from town, that dog is part of the family so their first instinct is to rescue it, but the next minute they will have 750kg cows charging around them. It is a recipe for disaster.”
Part of the problem, said Bull, was that more and more people coming to the countryside were “less animal aware”. But he admitted it was not just the public who were at risk. The “most scary” moment of his life was when he and a colleague used a dog to help round up a herd of suckler cows. “Within 20 seconds one of the cows attacked the dog. Then the others started bellowing – a warning cry. The dog came galloping back to us and within seconds we were surrounded by 40 cows. We were petrified – we thought we’d had it. They turned from docile cows to a mob.”
Adrian Morris of the Ramblers’ Association said walkers should appreciate that the countryside was a working environment. “We get two to three queries a week related to incidents involving animals, with one or two a year that have been serious. Quite often we hear stories about people having to run across a field to the nearest stile. It is difficult to know how much is perception and how much reality.”
A spokesman for the National Farmers’ Union added: “Attacks by cattle are extremely rare. If you feel threatened, just carry on as normal, do not run, move to the edge of the field, and if possible find another way round. And remember to close the gate.”
Others pointed out that livestock were also at risk from ignorance of country ways. “We are aware of many reports of animals being attacked by dogs off the lead, or of dogs being injured when a herd is frightened and pursues the dog,” said Katy Geary, a spokeswoman for the RSPCA. “We believe that tens of thousands of livestock are killed or maimed. Terrified sheep and cattle have been chased over cliffs and into rivers, had their throats and intestines ripped out, or been caused to miscarry through dog attacks. People find it hard to believe their pet can be a hazard to livestock.”
Whatever triggered the attack on him, Blunkett knows he is lucky to be alive. “I didn’t realise the seriousness at first – I had no idea I had broken my ribs.” He says he has lived in the countryside since he was a boy and had never been worried about bulls or cows. Along with others, he may now steer well clear.
Six tips for safety
If confronted by cows…
• Do be prepared for cattle to react to your presence, particularly if you are with a dog.
• Do move quickly and quietly – and if possible walk around them.
• Do keep your dog close and under proper control.
• Don’t hang on to your dog if you are threatened by animals – let it go.
• Don’t put yourself at risk. Find another way round and rejoin the footpath as soon as possible.
• Don’t panic. Most cows will stop before they reach you. If they follow, just walk on quietly.
• Report any problems to the highway authority.
Obama stumbling? The hell he is
On Iran, gay marriage and the economy, the president is taking flak. But critics ignore the profound changes he is delivering
It’s a handy rule of thumb in Washington: a president’s fortunes can be divined by the way the White House press corps treats him. Think of George W Bush. At the height of his powers in 2003, reporters jockeyed for his favour, which he expressed by bestowing nicknames and sharing wisecracks. By the time Iraq and Katrina had ruined his presidency, the same hacks competed to see who could most effectively humiliate the president before a live audience.
So it was an ominous sign for Barack Obama last week when he appeared in the White House for a press conference that was his most uncomfortable to date. Reporters who had thus far treated him with deference and even admiration treated him with something close to disrespect. Obama, as the New York Times put it, “has rarely experienced as combative and contentious an hour on live television as he did on Tuesday afternoon”. Had his response to Iran, one asked, been “timid and weak”? Another tweaked the president’s “Spock-like language” about healthcare reform. One even grilled an increasingly irritated president about his furtive smoking habits. The treatment left Obama a bit testy. “I got it,” he groused. “You’re pitching, I’m catching.”
Indeed he has been catching – catching flak, that is, from critics on left and right and over both his foreign and domestic agendas. As he approaches the six-month mark of his presidency, his job has become less glamorous and more gruelling. Allies in Congress are restive and for the first time, the whiff of failures and defeats is in the air. Thus the new tone from the White House press corps, which, like animals in the wild, preys on the weak. But don’t be fooled by this dark patch. Obama’s long-term prospects remain bright.
Start on the domestic front. Here, Obama faces two titanic challenges. The first is the economy. An unexpected spike in jobless claims announced last week doused hopes that the economic downturn had finally reached an inflection point. With unemployment now approaching 10%, higher than the administration had predicted, Republicans are rallying around the argument that Obama’s $787bn stimulus bill passed in February isn’t working and amounts to a massive, deficit-swelling waste. “With all the spending that’s gone on, where are the new jobs?” asked House Republican leader John Boehner. Lately, some of Boehner’s colleagues are even fantasising about riding such talk to retake the House of Representatives in the 2010 midterm elections. (The Senate is a steeper climb for Republicans.)
It’s true that if the economy fails to recover within the next year, no amount of hope and change can save Obama’s presidency. But those 2010 elections, the first real referendum on his performance, are still 16 months away. That leaves plenty of time for the economy to pick up steam. Moreover, polls show that most Americans still blame the economic doldrums on Bush. And while stimulus dollars have been frustratingly slow to be distributed, that will soon change, with the stimulative effect likely to kick in well before the midterms, dashing the hopes of many a Republican candidate.
Obama’s second domestic trial will be healthcare. Anyone who recalls Bill and Hillary Clinton’s attempt to cover America’s 40-plus million uninsured citizens in 1994 understands that, if mishandled, the issue can cripple a presidency. Congress is beginning to craft a healthcare plan with Obama’s guidance and the early going hasn’t been pretty. Proposals have carried eye-popping price tags ($1.6 trillion, according to one preliminary estimate by a Senate finance committee), while covering a disappointingly small number of Americans. Nor have the Democrats quite settled on how they will pay for a massive expansion of care. Last week, a prominent House Democrat pronounced that “healthcare reform is on life support”.
Don’t be surprised if Obama resuscitates it. Although many Democrats are nervous about his plan’s cost, it remains quite popular with the voters to whom those Democrats answer. Moreover, Republicans and business lobbies have been slow to organise against Obama’s plan or present credible options, something GOP strategists call crucial to victory. As for the money, it can always be found (deficits can be tackled another day) and the plan’s ambitions can be reduced if necessary. As White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has said about healthcare: “The only thing non-negotiable is success.” And the current Democratic majorities in Congress are large enough that Emanuel will not have to eat his words.
Obama is tiptoeing around other domestic land mines. The only thing that makes his congressional Democratic allies more nervous than supporting sweeping and expensive healthcare reform is the grand climate-change plan, passed by the House on Friday. However urgent it may be to fight global warming, public support for environmentalism drops dramatically in times of economic distress. But look for Obama to settle for a modest plan – a symbolic victory – rather than accept a stark political defeat. He can return to climate if need be. That may upset liberals, who are already fuming at him for not doing more to support gay marriage or the prosecution of people who authorised torture in the Bush era. But when push comes to shove, will such critics abandon Obama? Not likely.
Foreign policy is harder to predict and Obama is still learning on the job. Take the recent uprising in Iran. Obama first said little to encourage the protesters, then strongly condemned the regime. It was undeniably an uncertain response, hence the “timid and weak” charge. On the bright side, the world has witnessed the brutal face of the regime, which should make it easier for Obama to win tough international sanctions in the (likely) case that planned diplomatic attempts to talk Iran out of a nuclear bomb go nowhere.
Then there are Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thus far, Obama has been in crisis-management mode, trying to keep the government in Islamabad from falling apart and firing his top general in Afghanistan for poor management of the war effort there. But conditions may soon improve in both countries; the Pakistani military is finally cracking down on Islamic radicals. Meanwhile, Obama has ordered 21,000 more American troops to Afghanistan. But many analysts think that, much like the Iraq surge, the fight against the Taliban is eminently winnable if there are enough troops and the right counterinsurgency strategy is adopted.
So imagine, then a possible world of June 1 2010. The economy has rebounded and Obama, citing his stimulus package, is claiming the credit. A major (if not perfect) healthcare reform bill has passed, handing Obama a historical policy achievement in his first year. Iran is being squeezed hard by a disgusted international community, led forcefully by Obama, perhaps prompting a new reformist uprising against the clerics. The Taliban are at last on the run in Pakistan and Afghanistan. And, oh, by the way, the US is substantially pulling out of Iraq.
It will take luck – and more than a little political skill – for Obama to achieve such stellar results. But he’s never wanted for either. It will also take something else, however: the firm support of his fellow Democrats. There are signs that some in Obama’s party have studied the polls and the economic figures and may be wondering whether their self-interest may soon diverge from that of the president. But in fact, the Democrats’ fate is inextricably tied to Obama’s success.
Without him, the party is not particularly popular. These nervous Democrats should remember that moving an agenda as big as Obama’s was never going to be easy. But that even in difficult moments like these, his popularity remains durable and his prospects for success are better than they may appear. Perhaps Obama should propose a new motto for his party: Together we stand, divided we fall.
• Michael Crowley is a senior editor of the New Republic Magazine