Elderly man airlifted to hospital after being trampled by ‘out-of-control’ cow

Officials say animal was ‘humanely dispatched’ after running into a field

An elderly man has been taken to hospital with serious injuries after being attacked and trampled by an "dangerously out-of-control" cow, police said.

Dyfed-Powys Police received reports at about 10.15am on Saturday that the cow had escaped from Whitland Mart in Carmarthenshire, Wales, and made its way to the centre of Whitland.

A force spokeswoman said: "It came across an elderly man in North Road, where it attacked and trampled him, causing serious injury."

The man was taken to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff by air ambulance.

Police said the cow went onto the rail track in the area, with trains stopped to "mitigate the danger to them", before it made its way to a field.

Attempts to safely contain the animal failed and it was "humanely dispatched" with the consent of the owner, police added.

Whitland Mart is a weekly market where farmers buy and sell cows and other livestock.

In 2018, a cow escaped while on its way to a slaughterhouse.

The animal made a bid for safety after it refused to get into a lorry taking it to be killed for meat.

Instead, it rammed a metal fence before making a dash for the nearby Lake Nysa, south Poland.

After the cow’s owner, known only as Mr Lukasz, attempted to get it back to the farm, the cow broke one of his worker’s arms, according to Polish news show Wiadomosci.

It then entered the water and swam to one of the islands in the middle of the lake. Mr Lukasz said he even saw it dive underwater on its way.

After a week of trying and failing to get the cow back, Mr Lukasz gave up and began making sure it was fed enough food to stay alive instead.