A farmer was fined and ordered to pay legal costs after a herd of his cows trampled a woman on a public footpath.
Martin Falshaw, 70, failed to take adequate precautions to keep his cattle separate from the path as they trod on Janicke Tvedt, breaking seven of her ribs. She needed surgery to remove part of her colon after the incident.
Army veteran Ms Tvedt and her friend David Hood had been walking her dogs on a lead along the footpath on July 25 2021 when a cow and a pair of calves begin attacher her pets.
Two other animals then joined in the fray before knocking Ms Tvedt, who had just been diagnosed with cancer, to her knees and trampling on her, as other bovines moved in to surround them.
The victim and her friend climbed a tree to escape, with Ms Tvedt losing consciousness and having to be held up to prevent her from falling into the crowd of farm animals below.
Janicke Tvedt, pictured with her labrador, Goose, was airlifted to hospital and left with life-changing injuries after being trampled by a herd of cows
Janicke pictured in Leeds Hospital after being attacked by cows whilst out walking her dog
Janicke pictured on a stretcher being helped by emergency crews after she was attacked by a herd of cows
She was then airlifted to hospital and needed emergency surgery, with her cancer treatment delayed as a result. She has also sought counselling to get over the attack.
‘I still have visions of three cows’ heads this close from me pinning me against the hedge,’ she told the BBC.
‘I’ve had the best part of two years in counselling to overcome the trauma. The injuries I have are permanent.’
York Magistrates’ Court heard no fencing was in place to separate the public footpath from the cattle, and adequate signage was not put up to warn walkers of the risks posed by cattle.
Prosecutors said a previous near miss incident a decade ago saw a walker chased by cows; they escaped without injury, but the episode should have served as a ‘warning’ to Mr Falshaw, who admitted his failure to protect the public.
Lawyers acting for the farmer said no other incidents had occurred outside of these two in the last 25 years.
The court heard Mr Falshaw has since taken steps to put up fencing. However, he was fined £770.50 and ordered to pay a £190 victim surcharge and legal costs of over £4,500.
Ms Tvedt, who served in Bosnia, previously told how she slipped in and out of consciousness following the attack, going into ‘survival mode’ in order to stay alive.
Janicke was left with huge bruise on her left arm following the traumatic ordeal
She was also had bruising on her elbow as well as seven broken ribs
She was also left with hoof marks on her chest following the horrific incident in July last year
She said: ‘I was convinced I was going to die. I was trying to get in contact with my son because as far as I was concerned, that was it – I wasn’t going to see anyone again.
‘Had there been a child or an elderly person there, they would not have survived – that’s how serious the attack was.’
She was fitted with a colostomy bag that she still wears today
She added: ‘One of them kept raising itself up on its hind legs and then stamping its front legs actually down on me.
‘It trampled me at least four times on my abdomen and chest, and then once of my face, but I had my arm across my face.
‘Then one of them knocked another over, and it fell and landed on my legs, and then did a complete body roll over my body.
‘So I was crushed by the weight of it – these were absolutely massive rearing cattle, with horns.’
She added: ‘I was terrified. Apparently, I was shouting at the cows. But they were snorting, mooing and grunting. They were pawing their hooves on the ground.’
The case comes after a farm business was ordered to pay £100,000 after a 61-year-old primary school teacher was killed while on a walk with her family in 2016.
The field where Janicke, who lives in Masham, North Yorkshire, was attacked by cows
Janicke pictured leaning against a wooden fence following the terrifying ordeal which left her thinking she was going to die
Janicke pictured following her surgery to have part of her colon removed
JM Nixon and Son, which runs Swinhoe Farm in Belford, Northumberland, admitted health and safety failings that led to the death of Marian Clode, who was tossed over a gate by a cow that had repeatedly charged at her.
Campaigners have called for farmers who keep livestock to be legally required to take out public liability insurance and for cattle to be kept separate from walkers on recognised national walking routes.
Eight people were fatally injured by livestock in Britain in 2022/23 according to the Health and Safety Executive, which led the prosecution against Mr Falshaw.
The HSE says the deaths included a 74-year-old trampled by cattle while walking her dog, a 30-year-old groom crushed by a horse he had been riding and a 29-year-old found with ‘injuries consistent with cattle trampling’.