Woman Suffers 10 Broken Ribs and Bruised Lungs After Being ‘Crushed’ by Cows: ‘I Decided to Play Dead’

A 61-year-old woman hiking in the Scottish Highlands says she survived a frightening encounter with a herd of cattle that left her with severe injuries.

Mary-Jane Parker was walking with her dog, Lola, near Newtonmore in August when cows that had been “hidden behind a bank of high ground” suddenly came into view, she told the BBC. Parker said she only noticed the animals after she “skirted the mound” — and by then she was just “feet away from them.”

Within moments, she said, the herd surrounded her. One cow lowered its head and began thumping the ground.

“I was terrified. I couldn’t escape,” Parker recalled, adding that Lola panicked, slipped out of her collar and ran.

Parker said she was then “crushed” between two cows as the animals surged forward, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her between them as they charged. She described being thrown down when her backpack strap snagged on a cow’s leg, after which the animal dragged her across the ground.

“I thought I was done for out there,” she said. “I thought that was where it would all end for me.”

The ordeal, she said, continued. Parker recalled being “tossed up in the air” and slamming back to the ground — while the cows remained close. From where she lay, she spotted her phone about 25 feet away, according to STV News, but couldn’t reach it.

She described the feeling as “torture,” fearing that “at any moment, one could kill me – even by accident.” With her phone out of reach, she activated an SOS alert on her Garmin tracking device, which was in her backpack.

Worried the herd might trample her again, Parker said she made a split-second decision to stay completely still.

“I decided to play dead – keep as still as I could and hope they moved away without hurting me further,” she told the BBC.

For about 45 minutes, she said she lay motionless. Even then, the cows stayed nearby.

“I could feel one of the animals snuffling at my head,” Parker recalled. “A second was licking my bleeding wounds while a third kept pawing at my foot.”

It was only then, she said, that she realized the extent of her injuries. Her left calf, she told the BBC, had been torn open from knee to ankle, with muscle exposed. She said she tried to protect the wound by placing her right leg over it.

At the same time, she focused on staying awake.

“Keep holding on, don’t go to sleep, don’t lose consciousness…Keep breathing,” she repeated to herself. “Help will come.”

Eventually, Parker said, other hikers arrived and managed to chase the cattle away. They checked on her and confirmed Lola was safe. Minutes later, police and paramedics reached her in response to the SOS alert.

She was moved toward an ambulance, but medical staff determined her injuries were so severe that she wouldn’t reach a hospital quickly enough by road.

“I was aware I was surrounded by wonderful people who were all intent on saving my life,” she said. “But it might not be enough.”

Parker said she felt hope again when she heard a Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance helicopter landing nearby. She was flown to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where she underwent surgery.

Her injuries included 10 broken ribs, a broken sternum, a broken right hand, major leg trauma, bruised lungs, blood in the chest wall, and multiple bruises to her head, face, and body.

“The pain was crippling,” she said. “I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

After multiple surgeries, including skin grafts, Parker was discharged 10 days after the incident.

“I’m so grateful every day when I wake up and know I am still alive,” she said. “What a gift it is to be given that second chance.”