A young mum feared for her life as she was brutally attacked – by a COW.
Mother-of-two Sharyn Partridge, 41, was walking her 12-year-old Jack Russel, Suki, across open moorland when she was attacked by the aggressive bovine with a calf in tow.
She let go of her dog so it could make an escape, but Sharyn was knocked to the floor and repeatedly stamped on by the massive animal.
Sharyn believes she would have died from the attack if a man, known only as Dave, didn’t stop to scare the cow away from the car park on Dartmoor in Devon.
Tesco-employee Sharyn is now urging other dog walkers to be careful, and wants to remind people that you don’t need to be on a farmer’s field to be in danger.
She said: “I have not been out that way before and thought I would try somewhere different.
“There was a herd of cows walking across so we stayed away and it all seemed fine.
“They seemed happy enough chewing the grass. We passed them and carried on going back to where I had parked the car.
“On the other side of the road I could see this black and white cow and a baby black cow coming up.
“They were trailing behind the others. She was making a noise and then a brown cow turned up.
“She was obviously calling the other cows.
“I thought I should just stand still with the dog.”
But as Sharyn froze the cows took action, and charged towards her.
“As the cow came into the car park she was looking at me,” she added,
“I thought that I should just stand still and she would walk past me but she decided not to.
“She came a bit closer and I had this feeling that something wasn’t right so I picked Suki up.
“Then she put her head down and battered me to the ground.
“I let go of the dog so she could get away.
“The cow was just stamping on me. I was trying to protect my head with my hands. I rolled onto my front and put my head down.
“I was actually thinking ‘I’m going to die’. It was terrifying.”
At this point, the kind-hearted stranger known as Dave arrived and scared away the cow, and offered assistance to Sharyn.
She continued: “I heard a vehicle and it obviously scared her away.
“It was a gentleman called Dave in a van.
“I’m not sure if he was pulling into the car park anyway or if he saw what was happening but he saved me. He is my hero.
“He got out and he was brilliant. He was telling me to calm down.
“I was so worried about my dog. I called her back. She was very shocked. When the cow had me she was barking and running around.”
Dave drove Miss Partridge and Suki to her car so she wouldn’t have to confront the cows again.
The mum. of Plymouth, Devon, was left shaken and badly bruised but managed to escape serious injury.
“I’m very bruised, mainly on my tummy where obviously a hoof has gone into me,” she said.
“I’ve hurt my leg as well but I’m just glad that I didn’t have my children with me at the time.
“I don’t blame the cow.
“She may have had an experience with a dog or something in the past.
“She was just trying to protect her young but I want other people to be aware.”
