A NURSE has described the terrifying moment she and her five-year-old daughter were attacked by a group of donkeys.

Jenny Caine and her daughter Isabelle were visiting a Hampshire beauty spot when the animals surrounded them, cutting off their escape route.

Miss Caine, 38, of New Milton, was bitten on the back and knocked to the ground, causing her to drop her child.

Last night she complained that other visitors to Hatchet Pond, near Beaulieu, just stood and watched as she and her daughter tried to flee the animals.

It comes just days after two pensioners walking through a field in Lymington were attacked by a cow.

As reported in the Daily Echo, the women managed to escape after one of them removed the sweater from around her waist and used it to fight off the animal.

Miss Caine, a nurse at Oakhaven Hospice, Lymington, said she and her daughter were attacked after taking a bag of bread to feed the ducks.

She added: “We hadn’t even got to the water’s edge when two donkeys came over and started being a bit of nuisance. Then three others appeared and made a circle around us.

“I tried to shoo the donkeys away, but they kept getting close – nudging me and almost physically moving me away from my vehicle.”

Miss Caine said she was suddenly bitten on the back and knocked to the ground.

She added: “Isabelle was getting hysterical, crying and screaming. I got up and called for help. I wasn’t expecting anyone to put themselves at risk but they could have distracted the donkeys or tried to shoo them away.

“I was really angry that no-one did anything.

“Eventually someone got out of their car and told me to throw my bag of bread in her direction, which I did.

“The donkeys dispersed and I made a run for it but they ran after me. I was terrified.”

Miss Caine, who managed to reach the safety of her car, added: “Isabelle kept saying ‘we’re not going there again, are we mummy?’ “I tried to tell her that the donkeys didn’t have anything against us – they were just after the food we’d taken for the ducks.”

The Verderers, the organisation in charge of Forest stock, said people feeding ponies and donkeys could result in them becoming aggressive and “demanding” food.

But spokesman Sue Westwood said: “I can’t recall any previous incident involving someone in that sort of situation being knocked over by a pony or a donkey.

“The woman involved was very unlucky.”