A rampaging sheep crashed through an electric fence and brutally killed an elderly couple after allegedly escaping from a nearby farm.
Helge and Gaye Hansen, both in their 80s, were found dead in a meadow in New Zealand on Thursday.
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Helge is feared to have been attacked while going to feed animals on his property in Waitakere.
Gaye followed him to the paddock after not hearing from him and was also ambushed by the ram, according to reports.
Helge’s ex-wife, Jan Hansen, told local media. Stuff: “That ram must have been waiting for her to come through the door, I guess.
“Don’t think that animals can’t think. A male animal in mating season can be quite cruel.”
It is unclear where the “vicious” sheep came from before the attack, but one resident claimed they must have been from a nearby farm.
The anonymous neighbor said The New Zealand Herald: “It’s disgusting. They were lovely people just enjoying their retirement.
“They were over 80 years old, he had knee problems and they didn’t have time to escape.”
Gaye’s son from a previous marriage, Antony, discovered the couple when he checked on them after they didn’t respond for a couple of days.
He also confronted the aggressive animal and suffered injuries, comparing the blows of a ram’s horns to a “sledgehammer hitting you at 60 to 80 miles per hour.”
The ram then attempted to attack police before he was shot dead at the scene.
antonio said RNZ: “It’s extremely terrible for both of us to be eliminated… in such strange and crazy circumstances.
“You know the reality of aging parents, but you don’t expect something so radical.”
Anthony said he found some comfort in the fact that his father was doing what he loved when he died.
He added: “He dedicated himself to the things he loved to do and it was all over very quickly.
“That’s something that will give us a little more comfort: that Dad hasn’t suffered.”
Anthony claims that his father used to raise sheep and was always cautious around rams.
He believes Helge was taken by surprise because otherwise he would never have entered the paddock.
“He is an experienced sheep farmer. “He knows the potential outcome with the strikers, as far as being quite aggressive,” Anthony added.
Although battering ram attacks are rare (only 11 documented cases resulted in human deaths worldwide as of 2019), they can pose a serious health risk.
Dr. Lindsay Matthews, senior scientist at Matthews Research International, liked both battering ram wounds and those from a car accident.
He said these animals, which weigh up to 150kg, could attack someone unexpectedly and at high speed.
“Rams can hit other males very hard, then back up and charge at each other, hitting each other with cross force to the front of the head,” Dr Matthews told RNZ.
“Unless you keep an eye on them all the time, they can hit you suddenly.”
Animal behaviorist Mark Vette added that it’s possible for rams to become unruly when they haven’t been socialized or have high levels of testosterone.
“It would be a very rare occasion for a battering ram to hurt someone at that level, but what is usually common is to get knocked down and hurt,” he said.
The expert went on to explain that although dying from a ram’s horns is rare, being cornered by the animal could pose a risk to people who are not physically capable of fleeing.
The coroner has been notified of the death of the elderly couple.
They will be buried on Wednesday in a joint ceremony.
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