A PENSIONER was taken to other hospital with a broken jaw and other injuries after being attacked by a cow in the New Forest.

Della White, 71, and her husband Michael were walking their dogs near their Hythe home when she was knocked into a ditch and trampled.

Mrs White was left with a raft of injuries, including a gaping wound on her back, a broken wrist and a badly damaged hand.

The pensioner was taken to Southampton General Hospital, where she underwent emergency surgery on her fractured jaw.

She was later transferred to Salisbury District Hospital for an operation on her hand. Now she had her husband are calling for the animal to be removed from the open forest.

Mr White is reported to have said: “We saw a white cow with horns and her calf. I called our two sheepdogs close and my wife put our other dog on a lead.

“Suddenly I heard my wife shout behind me. The cow was barrelling into her and trampling her.

“She was pushed into a ditch and I honestly think that had I not offered her protection she wouldn’t be alive now.”

The Official Verderer, Lord Manners, said: “The Verderers are very concerned to hear that a lady was badly injured by a Forest cow in the Dibden area.

“Our agister attended the scene as soon as he could and by the time he arrived there were no cows in the area, so the animal responsible has not been identified.

“In cases like this, if the animal involved is identified, the Verderers take steps to have it removed from the Forest as quickly as possible.”

Mrs White was injured in Dibden Inclosure on July 19.

Lord Manners added: “There is no suggestion that the dogs being walked by the lady and her husband were out of control.

"However, it is possible that the cow involved had been worried by dogs on earlier occasions; she may have decided that it was better to chase the dog away before it chased her or worried her calf.

“Ponies and cattle are an essential part of the management of the Forest.“Both generally ignore dogs but there has been an increase in incidents between dogs and stock in recent months.”

In 2014 a woman and her five-year-old daughter were attacked by a group of donkeys. They were visiting Hatchet Pond, near Beaulieu, when the animals surrounded them, cutting off their escape route.

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