Cowphobia

A WOMAN walking her dog through a field was attacked and trampled to death by a pregnant cow. .

Link

I know this is going to sound foolish but I have had a fear of cows ever since I was a teenager. Where I grew up in Leeds we lived not too far from a number of fields where cows grazed. I remember when I was about 12 my friends and I were chased by a herd of cows (well we thought we were being chased–it’s more likely that they thought we were bringing them food so they headed in our direction as fast as a herd of cows can go). Since then I have always done my best to avoid being in the same field as any number of cows. They are just too big, too heavy, and too simple for my liking.

I only realized that I had a slight phobia of cows in 1995, when I was lying by a lake in Russia and a herd appeared from nowhere. There was nothing I could do but stand still while they grazed all around me. My Russian friends thought it was funny that I was so agitated. And I knew there was nothing I should be particularly worried about. Still, I couldn’t help but feel tense until they had moved on.

When I saw this story just now it brought back all those memories. And it hasn’t gone any way to allaying my fear of cows.

PS I see I am not alone here and here.