Animal agression: Iowa woman attacked and killed by cow

June 20, 2011– IOWA – A rural Urbana woman died after a cow attacked her while she was feeding her animals, leaving people baffled. “It’s pretty unusual for a cow to become aggressive,” said Terry Engelken, an associate professor at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “We have a few instances of (cow attacks) across the country every year — but it’s uncommon. For it to result in a fatality is very uncommon.” Jean Fee, 60, died Saturday after being attacked on the family farm in rural Benton County, the sheriff’s office said. She was with her 1-year-old grandson when the attack happened at about 3 p.m. Matt Fee said that his dad heard screaming, came out to the pasture and saw his wife lying on the ground and the child standing beside her. “The best we can figure is the cow became aggressive, and my mom was protecting my nephew, and the cow hit her with its head and it stopped her heart,” Matt Fee said. Matt Fee said there were three calves in the pasture when the attack occurred. Engelken said that in many cases people have no idea why cows become aggressive. –Des Moines Register

Earlier this month, elephants went on a rampage in India: Authorities said the wild jumbos wandered from a forest near Mysore, in the state of Karnataka, around 6:00 a.m. and tore through the city for nearly three hours. The victim, Renuka Prasad, a 55-year-old who lived in the city’s Bamboo Bazaar neighborhood, was trampled when he stepped out of his house to see what was going on, Indian news agencies said. He was taken to a nearby government hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Video footage from Indian television NewsX showed one of the elephants repeatedly goring and kicking a man’s lifeless body during a gruesome attack in a narrow alley, as horrified residents looked on. –NY Daily News