A fatal cow attack has occurred in East Tyrol.
Roland Freund/dpa (Symbolbild)
Hiking in pastureland can be dangerous. It happens time and again that cows react aggressively. This time the attack by an entire herd was fatal for a 67-year-old woman.
- In East Tyrol, Austria, a “mid-double-digit number” of cows attacked a couple.
- A 67-year-old woman died and her 65-year-old husband was seriously injured, according to the police.
- It is still unclear why the animals behaved aggressively. The couple apparently did not have a dog with them.
In Austria, there has been another fatal cow attack on a female hiker. A 67-year-old woman was attacked by a “mid-double-digit number” of cows in a pasture and fatally injured, the police reported.
According to the authorities, the 65-year-old husband of the victim was seriously injured in the cow attack in the Lienz region of East Tyrol. The reason for the aggressive behavior of the animals is still unclear, said a police spokesman.
Couple probably did not have a dog with them
According to initial findings, this time the couple from Austria were not accompanied by a dog. Cows sometimes react to the approach of dogs, especially when they want to protect their young, by attacking the four-legged friend. In view of such incidents, authorities and farmers repeatedly advise caution.
Most recently, an 85-year-old man died after being attacked by a cow. He was out with his wife and a dog in September 2025 when he was attacked by a herd of cows in Ramsau am Dachstein.