Woman seriously injured after being gored by cow near Marchwood Inclosure

A WOMAN was left covered in blood after being tossed into the air and gored by a cow in the New Forest.

The incident is now being investigated by the verderers’ office which confirmed the victim had been charged by a “large white cow” as she walked beside the road opposite Marchwood Inclosure.

The injured woman was with her daughter and a dog but they could do nothing to save her from the animal – which is thought to have been protective of its calf hidden nearby.

She was saved only when a passing motorist stopped and beeped their horn to scare the beast away, before rushing the casualty to hospital.

The incident sparked another claim on social media of a couple forced to hide from an aggressive cow while walking their dog in the same area.

Tania Passmore was a passenger in the car being driven by her mother when she saw the attack on the woman at about 6.30pm last Thursday.

She told the A&T: “My mum was driving, and as we came up the road we saw the cow behind the lady. The woman bent down to see to her dog and the cow flipped her over, cutting her leg open.

“My mum beeped the horn and scared the cow away. Then we stopped and shouted to her to get into the car and drove her straight to hospital.

“When my mum beeped the horn a baby calf stood up out of the bushes – no one saw the baby until the beep.

“It was 100% not the lady’s fault. The cow just came up behind her, she hadn’t seen it.”

Tania, from Applemore, said cows should be separated from the public when they have calves, adding: “I think that when they have babies they need to be put into a field of their own away from the public.

“I know of so many different attacks on people at the same time of year.”

According to a statement from the verderers, the cow “ran at the lady from behind, caught her in the top of her leg with one of its horns and tossed her into the air”.

It went on: “The lady was taken to hospital by a passer-by as her leg was bleeding badly and, obviously, she was very shocked.”

The local agister was investigating and trying to locate the “aggressive” cow, it added, and had found one with a calf which “did show some aggression towards him”.

The statement concluded: “Whilst there is no evidence that it was the same cow, the owner of the cow was informed, and he removed the cow from the Forest.”

It added that it had not heard directly from the woman who had been injured.

On social media another woman told how she saw the attack between the Applemore roundabout on the A326 and Ipley crossroads.

She said: “The car in front of me stopped right away and when she could stand, the woman got straight in, clearly injured, and the lovely person there sped her off towards what I’m presuming was the hospital.”

Another said the injured woman had to have about 50 stitches.

It sparked another report on social media of a couple who had to hide “for safety” while walking their dog after they came across an aggressive cow in the same vicinity.

They said they had been “threatened and chased” by the animal.

A spokesperson for the verderers said no report about the couple had been made to them but urged: “If someone does come across an animal acting aggressively, we ask them to report it to us.”