Woman crushed by Highland cow at Paisley beauty spot heard ribs 'cracking' in horrific attack

A woman who was attacked by a crazed Highland cow near a popular beauty spot in Paisley thought she was going to die during the horrific ordeal.

Monika Bresler was walking her dog, Roxy, near Gleniffer Braes Country Park on Tuesday afternoon, April 16, when a cow charged towards them. While her dog managed to run away, the 45-year-old hid in nearby bushes.

However, the Highland cow tracked her down before knocking her off the ground. It then attempted to crush the Barrhead woman into the ground with its hoof, which struck her chest.

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A terrified Monika says that she heard her ribs "cracking" during the attack - on a public path near Brownside Farm car park - which left her with a collapsed lung and multiple fractures.

She told Glasgow Live: "I took the public path up the hill. When I reached the top of the hill, just beyond where the path sharply curves, a number of Highland cows appeared.

"One of the cows had a small calf and immediately after spotting my dog, started charging at us with anger in its eyes.

"While my dog, luckily off the lead at that point, managed to run away quickly, I thought I’d be okay moving away from it too - I went off the path into the neighbouring gorge bushes, running very fast. The cow didn’t stop charging, followed me and knocked me off my feet.

"It then attempted to lay on me, repeatedly, trying to crush me into the ground. The cow then managed to stamp on my chest with one of its hoofs and I could hear my ribs cracking. It was absolutely awful.

"I was very scared and thought it would kill me."

Riddled with pain, Monika managed to move to a different location, where dog walkers came to her aid. Emergency services were called and she was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where she stayed for four days before being discharged on Saturday, April 20.

Now, the IT manager has been forced to take time off work to focus on her recovery which is said to take six-weeks. She has shared her frightening ordeal in the hope of warning others to remain vigilant when visiting the popular spot.

She added: "I thought I needed to crawl out before anything happened. I managed to get up and go to these bushes where I saw more dog walkers.

"I knew I couldn’t breathe and something was really wrong, I was in a lot of pain. I was still very much under shock.

"This is a very popular spot for walking dogs, I was on a public path where it happened. There’s families walking the same path every day and these cows are left to roam free, they need to be put behind a fence.

"Wild animals that are dangerous shouldn’t be allowed out in country parks.

"It wasn’t anything I did, they just spotted my dog and came towards us. You need to be really careful and there needs to be some action"

It is understood that emergency services, including police, firefighters and paramedics, responded to the incident. We have approached them for comment.

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