The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
‘Before we knew it, they just charged’: Family watched in horror as cows trampled Gordon
Siobheon Duncan, a hospital pharmacist from Perth, was on a family day out in the Dunkeld countryside when she came across the herd of cows blocking her path.
She was with her husband Steven, youngest son Keiran, 15, and 18-yearold Lewis, who was about to leave for university the following day.
“We were heading along the footpath and a lady stopped us and said: ‘Excuse me, are you planning to do the circuit?’
“She was warning us about a herd of cows on the path ahead. She said she had got through, but the rest of her family got stuck because the cows were behaving so aggressively.
“They had to turn back, and find another way around.”
The family walked on to a cattle grid, and could see the cows just a few yards ahead.
“My husband saw a man and his dog on the footpath in the distance, walking towards the cows,” she said.
“We were about to turn back, but we decided to stick around to make sure he got past OK.
“He walked towards them and then veered off to his left, obviously trying to give the cows a really wide berth.
“But then the cows started moving. They started to follow him and his dog.
“The whole herd snaked round behind him. It looked really strange.
“And before we knew it, they just charged at him.
“He was running and screaming, and then the cows were on top of him.”
She said: “We started shouting to try and get the cows back, but we were also shouting to Gordon on the ground, telling him to run towards us.
“He managed to get himself back up again, but then collapsed.
“Steve and I ran into the field and we tried to get him off the ground. He was saying: ‘Just leave me here’, because he was in so much pain.
“He said he couldn’t move, but we told him: ‘You’re going to have to move.’ ”
Steve and Siobhean managed to take Gordon over the cattle grid to safety. “He just collapsed, because he couldn’t go any further,” she said.
Lewis made the 999 call, and used the what3words app to help emergency crews pinpoint their location.
“Meanwhile, Keiran was trying to get hold of the dog,” Siobhean said.
“The Labrador just wanted to lie on top of Gordon.
“He just wanted to stay with his master.
“We had to try to stop the dog from jumping on him.”
She said: “It took about 25 minutes for the emergency services to arrive.
“After about 20 minutes,
I was starting to get a bit panicky.
“I could see he was in real pain and I was trying to keep him talking and keep him conscious.
“He had massive bruising to his abdomen. You could see prints on his face where they had stood on his head.”
Siobhean said after the incident, she was told that a week or so before another person had been chased by aggressive cows on the same spot, and hurt his leg when he jumped over a fence.
“I never want to go near cows again,” she said.