Fatal attack by rogue rams rare, say experts

Police have confirmed the couple who were found dead on a West Auckland farm on Thursday morning died from injuries consistent with an animal attack.

Alfred Helge Hansen, 82, and Gaye Carole Hansen, 81 were found dead in their Waita¯kere paddock by their son who went looking for them after he hadn’t heard from the pair, family spokesman Dean Burrell said.

A police spokesperson said police were notified just before 7.30am.

Burrell said his mother’s sister and her husband had died. He said the couple were both in their early 80s, retired and had lived at the rural property for eight years.

“Unfortunately, they both lost their lives in a tragic accident. They are nice people and didn’t deserve this.

“Everyone’s in shock as to what’s happened. They’re very upset.”

The retired West Auckland couple ran sheep, chicken and cattle on their hobby farm.

Police were confronted by the rogue ram in a paddock when arriving at the property, before shooting it dead.

The deaths will be referred to the Coroner, police confirmed.

Animal experts say ram attacks — especially in breeding season — are common on farms and lifestyle blocks across New Zealand, but fatalities are rare.

Dr Elsa Flint, a veterinarian and university lecturer in animal behaviour, said otherwise benign rams can become aggressive during breeding season, which runs from about the end of March to July.

“Certainly, there are rams that can be very aggressive, and they’ll pack a lot of punch, they have a lot of force behind their charges,” she said.

“They would normally be competing, if they were a wild population, with other rams that wanted to take over.”

Other situations in which rams can become aggressive could be when a farmer was trying to single a ram out to give it treatment, such as a spray for parasites and worms.

In such circumstances, the ram could charge out of self-defence, animal behaviour consultant Mark Vette said.

“Once you get them cornered, they’re a bit more risky in terms of they’ll have a go back.”

That was why farmers typically used working dogs, yards and races to make them easier to manage.

“They’re a powerful animal and they can be quite a heavy animal.” Ironically, hand-reared or pet rams can be more dangerous, Vette said.

While a “paddock” ram may steer clear of humans due to its desire to stick with the flock, a pet ram was more used to being in close contact with humans, he said.

Flint and Vette said fatal attacks by rams were rare as in most cases, people were able to get out of harm’s way after being hit.

Rams also don’t typically continue to charge when people fall to the ground, meaning people can sometimes be left lying injured on the ground after being hit.

“The reports I’ve read from other countries, they have been older people, and the injuries have been things like fractured ribs because the rams hit them on the side and then the ribs puncture the lungs and they’ve died as a result of that,” Flint said.

Flint said a local shearer’s wife had suffered a serious spinal injury when a ram hit her in the back.

Both Flint and Vette have also been hit by rams.

“He’d always wait till my back was turned, and I’d gone past and then he would just rush at me and whack into the back of my knees and floor me,” Flint said.