Walkers with dogs being injured or tragically killed by cattle lead to big headlines. Sadly it is the owners of the cattle who get the blame. "Why do farmers insist on keeping dangerous animals in fields where there are footpaths?" critics demand. You would think by now after several similar cases over the last few years that the walking public, who now claim virtually unrestricted access to farm land, would have realised that it is they who are putting themselves in danger by taking dogs onto such fields.
David Blunkett was one recent victim and I suppose, as a blind person, he could be excused for taking his dog on a walk because he couldn't see the cattle in the field and may not have known they were there. He escaped with a cracked rib and a nasty shock. But the most recent tragedy involved a lady vet walking her dogs across a fiield of cows and she was killed.
I don't know the details beyond what has been reported in newspapers but it is almost inconceivable that a person trained as she must have been would have taken such a risk. She must have known the cattle were likely to come and check out the dogs. And especially if they had calves at foot that they would regard the dogs as a danger and would attack them. It is normal behaviour and entirely predictable.
It seems to me there should be a nationwide campaign to educate walkers about this. Hopefully it would bring an end to the unreasonable and ignorant demands of some walkers and media that farmers should be banned from allowing animals to graze their pastures and to the all too regular reports of such incidents.