Tragic accident on a farm in Upper Bavaria: A ten-year-old is found lifeless in the stable of his parents' farm. A cow is said to have killed the boy. This is not an isolated case.
Feldkirchen-Westerham (dpa / lby) - A ten-year-old boy was killed by a cow on his parents' farm in Feldkirchen-Westerham near Munich. To conclude from the injuries, the child was probably crushed by the animal in the cowshed, the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South said on Friday. Investigators are currently assuming that a cow pushed the boy against a wall and he suffered fatal injuries.
The parents are said to have been busy working in the stable on Thursday afternoon. The son is said to have been there and was finally discovered unconscious by the parents.
It was initially unclear how exactly the accident happened. According to the police, relatives had informed the integrated control center around 5:45 p.m. Despite emergency medical efforts, the boy died in a hospital in the evening, the police said. The Rosenheim criminal police have started the investigation. The "Passauer Neue Presse" and the "Rosenheim24" portal had previously reported on it.
Accidents involving cattle are not that rare. Even the former Federal Minister of Agriculture, Josef Ertl, who died in 2000, had to experience this. In 1993 he was critically injured by a bull on his son's farm.
In 2014, a particularly spectacular case made the headlines: in the middle of Munich, a runaway cow attacked a jogger, took her by the horns and seriously injured her. The animal was so upset that the police could only stop it with gunshots. The cattle that had escaped from the slaughterhouse that morning died next to an Oktoberfest tent and at the feet of the Bavaria. The jogger was taken to the hospital with open wounds.
The Social Insurance for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (SVLFG) reported six cases in 2020 in which cattle killed people. In total there were 5083 "reportable accidents through direct animal contact" with cattle in that year. According to the information, this is almost 60 percent of all accidents involving animals reported to the SVLFG.
Horses followed in second place, with a total of 2065 accidents reported in 2020, including one fatality. There were 459 accidents with pigs, 191 with goats or sheep. None of them ended fatally.
"It happens again and again that there are serious or fatal accidents with cattle when working in the barn or on the pasture because the animals have a large mass," said the press spokesman for the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria South, Stefan Sonntag. "Especially in a barn where it is narrower, there is a higher risk that an animal will push you against a wall or stall box." The animal does not have to behave aggressively.
The SVLFG offers seminars on the safe handling of cattle: "Understanding cattle better". "By applying the techniques you have learned, you avoid stress in your day-to-day work and that of the animals," says the website.
There are particular dangers on alpine pastures if suckler cows are disturbed with their calves. It can be dangerous, especially when dogs are involved. Austria has long established rules for hikers, and signs in Bavaria also warn of cattle. In 2014, a dog owner in Austria was trampled to death by a herd that probably wanted to protect her calves from the dog.
