Fresh calls have been made for farmers to be more safety conscious when handling bulls after an inquest ruled that 65-year-old Patrick Dowds was killed by a bull.

Mr Dowds, from Toulett, Burt, Co Donegal, was trampled by the Charolais bull on 16 September 2015 and subsequently died from his injuries. His twin brother George Dowds was also attacked by the bull on the same day.

Fact of life

Coroner Dr Denis McCauley said that while bulls are “a fact of life on farms”, he hoped that the safety message would get out there.

Similarly, the solicitor representing the Dowds family, Seamus Gunne, called on the Department of Agriculture and the IFA to do more to highlight farm safety.

Gunne said that it was a “horrific death for Patrick to meet” and his twin brother George “almost met the same fate”.

According to Gunne, farmers need to take a professional approach to handling, herding and transporting animals and to stop playing down the dangers of livestock.

On the day of the attack, Patrick went out to work at 8am as usual, but failed to return at 10am for tea. The inquest heard that his brother George went to look for him in a field where the bull and three cows were kept, he was knocked to the ground but couldn’t remember how. He said that they had had the Charolais for three months and it had not been aggressive before.

An autopsy on Patrick Dowds’ body showed that he had multiple lacerations, his right lung was partially collapsed and he had suffered numerous broken ribs and a broken sternum.

  • This story originally appeared in the Donegal Democrat.