austrian cow
© Johannes Simon/Getty Images The Tyrol region has now seen two deaths caused by cows in three years.
A hiker in the Austrian Alps was fatally gored when a cow charged at her, local police and media have said. The victim and a friend were walking their dogs in pasture land in the Tyrol region when the attack happened on Wednesday, the daily Tiroler Tageszeitung reported.

"One or several cows" charged, a police source told the Austria Press Agency (APA), and killed the hiker, a local. Her companion was unharmed.

The incident recalls the 2014 death of a 45-year-old German holidaymaker, gored by a cow in another Tyrolean valley while walking in a group that included children. The woman's husband and son sought €360,000 (£310,000) compensation from the cow's owner in a civil case that has not yet been decided.

The case has upset the Austrian farming community, which fears a legal precedent could be created in the mountainous region - a popular tourist attraction. Summer tourism accounted for 20.8m hotel nights in the Tyrol region last year, a 5.5% increase over 2015 and not far short of the 26.8m total the region enjoyed in the winter skiing season.

The exact circumstances of Wednesday's incident were not immediately known.

AFP