A 40-year-old hiker has died in the Austrian Alps after being hit by a herd of cows, police said Thursday. She died instantly, while her daughters, aged 20 and 23, were able to escape and call for help.
Originally from the region, the victim was on an excursion on Wednesday on his birthday in the Gastein valley, near Salzburg, with two small dogs when the attack occurred.
On this occasion, rescuers once again alerted walkers to the dangers linked to the presence of dogs. “Cows, whose maternal instinct is very developed, defend their calves” if they perceive a threat, they insisted, quoted by the APA press agency.
The victim’s two daughters were taken by helicopter to hospital and were only briefly interviewed by investigators. “The circumstances (drama) “There are still many cases to be resolved,” a police spokeswoman told AFP.
A “driving guide” for hikers
In 2017, an Austrian woman who was walking with a friend and dogs in Tyrol was killed in a similar incident. Three years earlier, in the same region, a 45-year-old German vacationer who was walking with her dog was trampled to death by a herd.
VideoPyrénées-Orientales: a cow sows panic on the beach by running among walkers
The event aroused great emotion in Austria and concern in the agricultural world. Especially since the farmer who owned the cow was ordered to pay damages to the victim’s family for not having fenced the pastures. But a subsequent judgment also highlighted the tourist’s responsibility and the amount was halved.
The government subsequently published “a guide to conduct” for hikers, calling on them to stay away from herds and to keep their dogs on a leash but to unchain them in the event of an attack.
