A farmer on the Lizard Peninsula wants to raise awareness of the importance of shutting gates after his cattle were allowed to escape, resulting in a car crash and one having to be put down.
David Oates grazes his cattle on land at Goonhilly Downs, but relies on people following the Countryside Code and shutting gates behind them to stop the animals from straying onto the main road.
Unfortunately this did not happen on Sunday, resulting in two of the cattle getting hit by cars in the dark – and one of the animals being so badly injured that there was no option but to put it down at the scene.
The knock on effect, he said, was tens of thousands of pounds in damage, the "entirely unnecessary suffering" of animals and an incident that put lives at risk.
Now David is calling on people to be more aware of their responsibilities when out walking.
He said: "I want to reinforce the importance of the Countryside Code and the general public's lack of understanding about the countryside.
"On Sunday someone walking on Goonhilly Downs left the pedestrian gate open on a well-used dog walking route, which then allowed my herd of cattle to walk out.
"Due to it being 7pm in the evening, it was dark and the black cattle were difficult to see in the headlights.
The gate had been left open, letting the cattle escape
"A couple vehicles did see them and tried to raise alarm but unfortunately two further vehicles did not manage to stop in time and one is likely to have been written off.
"One animal walked away with minor injuries, but the second had to be put down at the scene.
"Luckily no people were hurt in the incident."
He said he wanted to thank the three police cars that attended the incident, as well as the members of the public who stopped to help out.
The cattle graze on Goonhilly Downs
David added that it was the second time this year that gates had been left open by the public on the land owned by Natural England on Goonhilly Downs. Fortunately it was during daylight hours previously, meaning that the cattle were spotted and returned.
"The reason there are not kissing gates installed, and we can't put locks on the gates at present, is due to it also being a bridleway," he explained.
"We will be discussing options further with Natural England.
"I'm really frustrated that people have so little understanding about the importance of shutting a gate when out for a walk.
"This single act of thoughtlessness has cost tens of thousands of pounds in damage, caused entirely unnecessary suffering of animals and put lives at risk."
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