A man who survived a freak attack from a 'beserk' cow has told how he nearly almost his arm after the 70-stone mammal fell on top of him.
Keen walker Charlie Hird, 64, said he feared at one point that it was "game over" during the two-minute attack, which saw the enraged bovine suddenly turn on him when he stepped in to save a couple.
He had been out with a walking group on public land near Hallbankgate in Cumbria when he spotted a man across the field walking near a cow and her calf.
As the man got closer, Charlie saw the cow suddenly toss her head, and it appeared to try to gore him after throwing him to the ground.
A horrified female walker - believed to be the man's wife - then successfully distracted the beast, but was also pushed to the ground and kicked a number of times.
Brave Charlie then intervened, and drew the cow off by shouting and walking towards them, leading it to begin running at him.
After dodging the initial charge, he stumbled and fell into a gutter - and to his horror the cow landed on top of him, crushing the bones in his left leg and giving him a painful kick in the head.
Recalling the terrifying moment of impact, he told Nottinghamshire Live: "When the cow fell on top of me it went black.
"I honestly thought, 'that's it I've had it, it's game over'. As she got up she kicked my head with her foot, that gave me a gash down the side of my head.
"I couldn't understand why I couldn't see very well, my eyes were full of blood. At first I didn't realise she'd stood on my leg. I tried to stand up and fell over, that's when I realised my leg was broken.
An injured Charlie then crawled along a wall and played dead in fear of another trampling from the cow, as his horrified walking companions rushed to his aid and dialled 999.
Shocking footage shared later shows a screaming Charlie being treated by paramedics before he was rushed to hospital in an air ambulance, where he was told by surgeons there was a 50/50 chance he would lose his left limb.
The retired chef underwent a successful six-hour operation to rebuild his leg, and spent three weeks in hospital before returning home and learning to walk again.
Charlie is now sharing his ordeal from October 2021 to highlight the importance of giving livestock plenty of space when out on walks, especially cows with their young.
The cow could be heard calling out for her calf at the end of the attack, and he says her search was what prevented more people from being hurt.
But says "he doesn't blame the cow whatsoever" as she was only protecting her calf, and still enjoys going out on walks today - despite his friend's fears that he would be having nightmares for months afterwards.
Speaking of what can others can learn from the experience, he said: "My advice to walkers would be to give cows a wide berth, just quietly and calmly walk through the fields.
"If you're walking through a field and you see the cows are on their own, say on the left, and you see a load of calves on the right, don't walk between them. The cows will go to protect the calves so you could get really badly injured.
