By
Chris Brooke
Last updated at 2:53 AM on 23rd June 2009
A vet was trampled to death by a herd of cows as she walked her dogs in a field. Liz
Crowsley, 49, may have been trying to protect her two pet dogs, who
escaped injury and were found running free near her body.
Cows are highly protective of their newly-born calves at this time
of year and farmers warn walkers they may attack, especially if a dog
is in their field.


Tragedy: The herd are though to have been panicked by the woman's dogs while she was walking the Penine Way

Miss Crowsley, a regular walker in the Yorkshire Dales, was dead
when a holidaymaker found her around noon on Sunday, shortly after the
incident.
Police said she was walking along the Pennine Way in Wensleydale,
North Yorkshire, with her spaniel and collie dogs when she was killed.
'She was surrounded by a herd of cows and calves and as a result of
the dogs being present, the cattle reacted in an aggressive manner,'
said a police spokesman.Miss Crowsley, who was single and did not have any children, appears
to have been trapped against a dry-stone wall before being trampled.




Ramblers pass the scene where the woman rambler was crushed against the stone wall by the herd

The incident happened on a bridleway close to the hamlet of Gayle,
near Hawes. Miss Crowsley had been staying in a holiday cottage in the
area.
She came from Warrington, Cheshire, and was head vet at the Willows Veterinary Hospital in Hartford, Cheshire.

A holidaymaker staying in the area, who did not want to be
identified, said: 'My wife had earlier seen a woman carrying a stick
and walking up the field with two dogs.

'A little later we were upstairs when we heard a strange bellowing sound coming from the cows in a nearby field.
I saw a herd of cows crowded round one area of the field.
'I knew something was wrong so I went outside, picked up a wooden
post and went to the cows and shooed them away. Then I saw a woman on
the ground, with her head bent at an unnatural angle. I checked her but
there was no pulse.'He alerted emergency services, but paramedics were unable to save her.LocalNational Farmers' Union official Ken Buck said the cows would
have seen the dogs as predators. 'In these circumstances the cows would
harass the dogs and most dogs would be fearful and would hide behind
their owners for protection,' he said.
'The cattle want to get to the
dogs and the dogs want to get away. It's best for the owner in this
situation to just drop the leads and let the dogs go.'

Last year, another dog walker, Sandra Pearce, 45, was killed in a
similar incident near the village of South Elmham, in Suffolk. She was
trampled after trying to bring her two dogs under control.


Just over a fortnight ago, former home secretary David Blunkett
suffered a black eye and a cracked rib when he was knocked over by a
cow that was trying to protect her young.



Mr Blunkett, 62, was walking in the Peak District with his
26-year-old son Andrew and guide dog Sadie. Later, he said it was a
'miracle' he wasn't killed.

Very sad, and the poor dogs are now homeless :crtttt:

I find it quite scary when cows follow you across a field. My OH used to work on a farm as a teenager and has always been a 'country boy' and it doesnt bother him in the slightest. He simply turns round & squares up to them & they always seem to back off but I find them quite intimidating.

i absolutely hate cows... i have a very big phobia of being in a field with them.... we went to elvaston castle county show today.... and we went into the bull tent... i was absolutely cacking my pants... my OH kept saying its okay theyr all chained up... then what should come walking through on a lead,... a fook off massive bull... i shat myself... ive never moved so quick lmao.... my heart was racing...i let tia for my OH to grab hold of,,, it was every man for himself i was gone :2445:

Im scared of them too, I was chased by some once, shat me pants. There are Angus cows (think that is what they are called) that I walk by every day, big bloomin horns on them things :qa1:

when i was younger my mum took a shortcut through a field of them .. my brother was in his pushchair and the cows had calves.... when they saw us they came running for us, they were protecting their young i spose.... my mum grabbed my brother out of his pushchair and we dived over the fence... they trampled the pushchair into the ground and came towards the fence.... luckily for us the farmer had seen it and came to help us.... ever since then ive been petrified i love them when theyre little and over the other side of a fence to me lol...

oh dear thats awful! was the lady allowed to walk her dogs in a field full of cows? that would not be allowed here, if a field has cows in it means it is private property. such a waste of a life.

People in the countryside here assume a certain 'right of way' across farmland & as long as you respect that land most farmers are okay with it.
Walking through a herd of cows with dogs is not advisable

i would never do that here. although i used to take part in the roundup of cattle but on horseback it's ok and i used to love competing in the rodeo