The mountain holds a primordial charm, but hides unpredictable dangers linked to the local fauna. In the last few hours, two separate accidents have put the spotlight back on safety along Alpine routes, demonstrating how close interaction with animals can turn into a drama. The episodes, which occurred at a short distance in time on the peaks of Trentino and the Austrian Tyrol, involved two women, who were forced to promptly go to hospital by helicopter due to the injuries they sustained after being picked up and made to fall into the cliffs below.
The ibex on the Austrian Trail
The first accident occurred at around 2,900 meters above sea level in the Vermiglio area, in Val di Sole. A twenty-six year old from Bergamo was walking the famous Sentiero degli Austriaci under the Torrione d’Albiolo together with her twenty-one year old hiking companion, also resident in the province of Bergamo. Suddenly, an ibex emerged from a cave located in the last portion of the route, fully hitting the young woman.
The violent impact caused the hiker to lose her balance and fall twenty meters down the rocky slope. The alarm raised on 112 by his uninjured companion activated the Trentino Alpine and Speleological Rescue. The girl, who suffered trauma to her abdomen and ankle, was stabilized and transported by helicopter to Cles hospital.
The cow attack on Kühtai
An equally dramatic scenario took place near the Finstertal artificial lake, in the Austrian town of Kühtai, in Tyrol. Sixty-four-year-old German Helga Müller was walking with her 59-year-old husband Klaus Müller when the couple attempted to overtake a cow that was on the path with her calf.
Feeling threatened in its maternal instinct, the bovine launched a violent headbutt against the woman, pushing her over the edge of the path. The victim fell ten meters down a rocky slope towards the reservoir, suffering serious head injuries and multiple traumas all over his body before being urgently airlifted to the Innsbruck University Clinic.
How to avoid the recurrence of these episodes
To avoid attacks from the animals that populate the mountain pastures and peaks, it is essential to follow some golden rules. Mountain rescue experts reiterate that wild species and grazing livestock should never be approached, caressed or cornered.
If an animal feels threatened, hunted or perceives a danger for its offspring, its natural defense instinct pushes it to attack with outcomes which, due to the morphology of the mountain terrain, risk proving fatal for humans.
