When Cows Attack

Forget Jaws! The real danger is far closer to home: statistics reveal that more Americans are killed each year by something far more dangerous .... the cow.

The next time you're nervously scanning the surface of the sea for a dorsal fin, remember one thing: Statistically speaking, you are much more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark.

Between 2003 and 2008, 108 people died from cattle-induced injuries across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's 27 times the whopping four people killed in shark attacks in the United States during the same time period, according to the International Shark Attack File. Nearly all those cow-related fatalities were caused by blunt force trauma to the head or chest; a third of the victims were working in enclosed spaces with cattle.

While the ongoing battle between cow and man is overwhelmingly one-sided (and delicious), the people who work closely with cattle take major risks. "I've been kicked, I've been pushed, I've been charged," says 22-year-old Margaret Dunn, a graduate research assistant studying animal science at Iowa State University. "Like what they say about dogs, they can smell fear."

Link - via We Interrupt


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I think it is also becoming wider known now that bovine flatulance is a big contributor to green house gas emissions. I mean, I think it is more significant than concrete.
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No doubt. I was attacked by a cow and it wasn't when I lived on a farm. It was recently when I was out hiking. Parts of the Appalachian trail run through farmland where cows are out grazing. I was walking through a field and saw the milk cows in the distance, one apparently didn't take too kindly to me crossing her field and started running towards me. At first I thought it was funny since I've never seen a dairy cow run. But then I remembered that this animal weighed probably more than 1,000 pounds and I wouldn't have much choice in the matter if it decided to sit on me. So I ran for the other side of the field where the steps took you up over a fence. She caught my butt with her head just as I hit the first step and gave me a helpful shove over the fence where I didn't touch any other steps.
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