Running News Daily

Colorado runner almost killed by cow on trail

A Colorado woman says she was almost killed when a cow knocked her over in one of two attacks on runners by aggressive cattle reported on a trail in the past week. Both attacks occurred on the Meadowlark Trail outside Superior, Colo., about halfway between Denver and Boulder.

The first attack happened on June 3 when a herd of cows knocked over a runner on the trail. The woman, who declined treatment for bruises and scrapes after the attack, told Boulder County Parks and Open Space officials she was not trampled in the incident, but described the attack as “very frightening,” according to McClatchey News.

On Tuesday, cattle rushed another female runner on the trail. A witness to that attack, who placed a call to 911, saw the runner “trying to protect herself on the ground, surrounded by about 15 or 20 cows, most of them mothers with their calves,” the Longmont Times-Call reported. The woman who was attacked in that incident was taken to hospital; her condition wasn’t known to officials.

Becca Fuchs, the runner involved in the June 3 attack, tweeted about her experience after hearing about the second encounter Tuesday. “Did someone else get injured there now since Sat?” she wrote. “It was definitely near death for me. if the one that knocked me on my back had just landed with his hooves a few more inches over I don’t think I would be here. I hope people take this seriously. I was just running on the trail.”

Tuesday’s attack prompted officials to close the trail temporarily. Although the Times-Call reported, it was reopened later in the day after the rancher who leases the field relocated the herd to a fenced-in pasture.

Officials said the cattle in both attacks were likely acting aggressively to protect their young, and that neither runner had done anything to provoke the attacks. There have been previous reports of aggressive cattle along the Meadowlark Trail, which is located in a cattle-grazing area.

Reacting to Tuesday’s attack, Fuchs tweeted that it’s “sad it happened again within such a short space of time. Someone I talked to said their friend broke 3 ribs in the same place just two weeks ago.”

In April, Canadian Running reported a 43-year-old woman in Farmington, Maine, required stitches after she was ambushed by a cow while jogging on a trail.