An elderly hiker was killed after a herd of cows trampled him and his wife while on a dog walk in the Austrian Alps, local police said.
The man had been hiking with his wife near a mountain hut in Ramsau am Dachstein in Styria province on Sunday afternoon when the attack occurred, local media reported.
Witnesses say the cows were likely startled by the couple’s dog, Swiss outlet Blick reported.
“A retired couple from Vienna and their dog were walking just below the so-called Austria hut when a herd of nine cows – including three calves – charged and severely injured them,” local police spokesman Markus Lamb told AFP.
Other hikers and staff at a nearby mountain hut witnessed the attack and rushed to provide first aid before alerting emergency services.
The couple was transported to a hospital in Salzburg, where the man died from his injuries before surgery could be performed. The woman was reportedly in a stable condition.
Authorities are investigating the incident and an autopsy will be performed to determine the precise cause of death.
While rare, fatal cow attacks do occur in Austria, where free-grazing livestock share the country’s popular hiking trails with tourists.
Meadows, clear lakes, and mountains draw visitors and locals to the Ramsau am Dachstein area in both summer and winter. But accompanying dogs can be perceived as a threat, startling cows.
In 2024, another hiker was killed in the Salzburg region when a herd of cows charged her and two small dogs.
An earlier attack prompted the government to publish a set of guidelines for hikers in 2019, advising them to stay away from cows and walk dogs on a short lease, releasing them if the cows become aggressive.
The guidelines were in response to the death of a German tourist who was trampled by cows in Tyrol in 2014. The incident made national headlines and a court ordered the farmer who owned the cattle to pay hundreds of thousands of euros in damages to the 45-year-old victim’s family.
