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A 40-year-old woman was killed by a herd of cows near Salzburg. Her daughters had to witness the tragic incident. The circumstances are puzzling.
Salzburg – A woman from Austria was attacked and trampled to death by a herd of cows. The tragedy occurred on Wednesday afternoon in the Gastein Schlossalm area, near the Austrian-Bavarian border, when the woman was out with her two daughters (20 and 23 years old) and two small dogs – a hike on the 40th birthday of the mother, who is believed to be from the area.
The daughters had to witness the brutal attack on their mother, the Salzburg police reported in a statement. They survived the attack, but had to be flown to the Schwarzach hospital by rescue helicopter with injuries. The incident is reminiscent of two incidents from last year. In Austria, a farmer was killed by his herd, and on the Seiser Alm in South Tyrol, a lead cow forked a hiker and hurled her through the air – the woman was lucky to survive.
Tragedy in Austria: Herd of cows only lets go of mother thanks to helicopter
According to the police, the family was on a hiking trail near Gastein when the herd of cows suddenly charged at them for unknown reasons. The mother tried to get her children to safety, but was thrown to the ground by the cows and trampled to death. The 20-year-old alerted the Bad Hofgastein mountain rescue station at around 1:40 p.m. However, the herd of cows only moved away from the woman lying on the ground when the emergency helicopter arrived, the police report. Salzburg NewsThe pilot had virtually chased away the herd. Our partner portal rosenheim24.de reports about it.
“Despite rapid treatment, the woman succumbed to her serious injuries at the scene of the accident,” said operations manager Hannes Reitsamer, according to the paper. All previous attempts at resuscitation had been in vain. The residents are deeply affected by the incident. The mayor of Bad Hofgastein, Markus Viehauser, is himself an alpine farmer. The Salzburger Nachrichten quoted him as saying: “The Schlossalm is an ancient alpine pasture area, a few weeks ago mother cows and young cattle were driven up there. The mother cows defend their herd when they feel threatened.” The incident was “unbelievably tragic.”
The police have launched an investigation to clarify the exact circumstances of the incident.
After incident in Austria: How you should behave around cows in the mountains
The state of Salzburg has summarized ten basic rules on how hikers should behave on alpine pastures.
- Do not feed grazing cattle, keep your distance
- Stay calm and don’t scare the animals
- Avoid encounters between mother cows and dogs
- Keep dogs on a short leash and unleash them immediately if they attack
- Do not leave hiking trails
- If grazing cattle block the path, keep a wide distance
- If a grazing animal approaches: Stay calm, do not turn your back, avoid
- If the animals become restless: leave the pasture/alpine area as quickly as possible
- Observe fences, close gates
- Treat nature and animals with respect
You can find the information from suedtirolerland.it here. Incidents like this one in Gastein are rare, but not unknown. They trigger heated debates in the Alps about the relationship between humans and animals.
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