73 year old woman killed by a sheep at MA animal therapy farm

[Demovictory9]

Kim Taylor, 73, was caring for livestock in Massachusetts on Saturday when a sheep charged at her.
She was severely injured and died after going into cardiac arrest, police said.

The incident happened at an animal therapy farm in Bolton, Massachusetts.

A 73-year-old volunteer at a Massachusetts animal therapy farm died over the weekend after a sheep repeatedly rammed her in a livestock enclosure, police said.

Bolton Police Department Chief Warren Nelson said in a statement shared with Insider that volunteer Kim Taylor was caring for livestock at Cultivate Care Farms on Saturday when the sheep charged at her.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/a-volunteer-at-a-mental-health-therapy-farm-died-after-one-of-the-sheep-repeatedly-rammed-her-in-a-livestock-enclosure/ar-AARztuD

[XanaDUer2]

1. This is sad and terrible nt

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. Sad and Weird.

I wonder if this Ram was a problem animal....she doesn't strike me as a person that would piss off a Ram. Unless the Ram was already classified as a problem animal. Then, she shouldn't have been in the pen....especially without backup.

A ram can do serious physical damage to any animal that threatens or engages him.

[mn9driver]

7. Some breeds are more aggressive than others.

I learned the hard way to never turn my back on a Suffolk ram. Ouch.

[OAITW r.2.0]

8. Had friends that ran an active sheep farm.

Cloth, food, and breed. The rams they had were pretty aggressive/territorial. While I went in the pen area, I always kept a mental note of where the Rams were....

[madaboutharry]

3. Someone doing some good in the world.

What a sad story. May she Rest In Peace.

[BlackSkimmer]

4. Was it a ram? Rams are the males and can be aggressive, especially if someone is around the ewes.

Seems odd if it was a ewe (a female sheep).

[elias7]

12. They don't call'em rams for nothing

Maybe too soon

[Tumbulu]

5. Oh how horrible! I keep sheep

and primarily these attacks are from rams. But I’ve had ewes become aggressive this way. And in every instance that I have been knocked down, the animal kind of goes into auto mode of stomping on me while down. I have thought each time I that would be killed.

Every time this happened my sheep dog would save me. And suffer the attacks from the gone nuts ram. Until I had gotten up and into safety. Then my dog would come to me.

Livestock handling is not trivial. And it is indeed dangerous.

[OAITW r.2.0]

9. I believe it....especially the autopilot mode.

Whatever triggers the attack, keeps the attack going until no reaction. I think if you went down- best advice is to small crouch, cover your head, and lie completely still.

[Tumbulu]

13. That's what I tried to do

but they flip from the head butting to knock you down to stomping on you with their front hooves. It felt to me as though they would or could not stop. Hence my absolute respect for my dog.

When rams square off and start head butting it looks very ritualistic. What gets them to stop I cannot say. Sometimes they just stop, both still standing. Other times one kills the other, or blinds the other. I’ve learned to keep them separated by fencing.

[obamanut2012]

14. God bless Border Collies

People don't get how big and strong sheep are, and how they can decide to just go bonkers sometimes. On my Uncle's farm, you had to have two people any time you did anything with any livestock except chickens and guinea fowl.

[Tumbulu]

15. Same on my farm, the unpredictability is

truly dangerous!

[nolabear]

6. She certainly shouldn't have been there alone.

I've been clobbered by a ram who otherwise was a friendly old guy. They just get it into their heads sometimes. Literally. But I was young and fairly nimble. No 73 year old should have been in there alone.

[OAITW r.2.0]

10. No 68 YO, either!

Most of the time they are pretty docile, but at breeding time, I think I'd steer clear.

[jeffreyi]

11. Not a good time of year to be casual around rams

I don't know the details, though. But this is the breeding season and the dynamics change.