Cows trample German to death in Swiss Alps

Published: 03 Aug 2015 09:20 GMT+02

A woman was trampled to death by cows near Laax in the Swiss canton of Graubünden after walking through a field containing grazing cows and their calves, cantonal police have reported.

The 77-year-old was on her way to the Grauberg gondola station from the Nagens mountain restaurant on Friday when she took a path through the alpine pasture, police said on Saturday.

After passing through the electric fence, she was attacked by cows grazing on and around the trail, who knocked the woman to the ground and trampled over her.

A cyclist witnessed the scene and called air ambulance Rega, but the woman died at the scene from her injuries, despite attempts to resuscitate her.

According to Germany’s DPA news agency, the woman was a German tourist from Berlin.

Hikers often encounter cattle on paths throughout the Swiss Alps.

Attacks are rare but do occur, especially when the herd contains calves.

Last year a family of tourists were attacked by a cow with a calf above Davos, also in Graubünden.

In 2012 a woman was attacked by cows in a pasture above Saint-Gingolph in the canton of Valais.

Speaking to Swiss radio, Walter Grass, president of the Association of Graubünden walking trails (BWA), called for action to prevent future incidents, reported newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung on Monday.

In a letter to municipalities, the association asked them to check the safety of their trails and seek a dialogue with farmers over the issue.

The problem can only be avoided entirely if footpaths are diverted or completely fenced off, the paper reported.

Fugitive cow outwits police for 4 weeks before capture

Published: 02 Aug 2016 18:06 GMT+02:00

Updated: 02 Aug 2016 18:08 GMT+02:00

Kaiserslautern police sent out helicopters to track down Johanna. But again and again the canny cow slipped through the net of the law.

The wild goose chase is finally over. Western Germany can sleep easy again at night.

After fruitlessly searching for an elusive fugitive for a whole month, police in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate made a triumphant announcement on Tuesday. The net had been closed on the runaway - the cops had got their man.

Well, man might not be exactly the right description. This was a female for a start. And she was one of the four-legged variety.

A month ago a plucky bovine dodged a bullet when she escaped from a slaughterhouse in Kaiserslautern, reports broadcaster SWR.

Police subsequently received reports from multiple worried road users who reported seeing a brown cow tromping towards the city centre.

Several police helicopters were dispatched to hunt the escapee, who has since been named Johanna.

Although officers spotted her now and then, Johanna immediately disappeared again each time, and police abandoned the search in frustration.

But, after a couple of weeks, the slippery beast once again ventured out into the public eye, walking down a street.

When cops moved in though, Johanna was already gone. She had fled into a nearby forest where, among the trees, she was practically impossible to trace.

Perhaps embittered that the humans who had raised her to adulthood now wanted to put her on a plate, Johanna turned to ever more radical means.

She began straying onto railway tracks, disrupting the service between Kaiserslautern and Landstuhl on several occasions.

A reward was placed on her head (by an animal welfare organization). But one professional animal catcher soon gave up, claiming the bovine simply couldn't be found.

As is so often the case with free spirits of her nature though, Johanna eventually rode her luck too far.

Her next target was a factory owned by the car maker Opel. At 3am on Tuesday she crossed into the premises. What devious plan she had in mind, only she knows. But security guards caught her movements on CCTV and alerted the fire brigade.

By the time Johanna noticed that she was being tailed, it was too late. As she turned to make a getaway, firemen drove her into a closed-off area and her dramatic time on the run was over.

But the story doesn't end there. Johanna's life is to be spared.

In the next few days, she will be taken to an animal sanctuary in northern Rhineland-Palatinate to live out her days. But the animal keepers there will no doubt be under strict instructions to keep a very close eye on her.

Spain- Police called to home " exorcism taking place ?"

A young woman was rescued from a ‘cult exorcism’ taking place in the northern Spanish city of Oviedo after her "blood-curdling screams" were heard by neighbours.

Police said they were called to a flat near the Plaza de la Gesta at around daybreak last Saturday after a neighbour called in to report the "blood-curdling" screams of a woman.

"I heard a woman screaming and it frightened me," one neighbour told local media. "The screams were blood-curdling, like she was being slowly murdered."

The woman, who has not been named but is said to be of South American origin, had to be hospitalized after being found in "a state of great mental anguish".

She was discharged hours later after it was confirmed that she had suffered no physical injury.

The woman was reportedly undergoing an ‘exorcism’ in the presence of several other young people and led by a "shamen".

"It absolutely had nothing to do with sanctioned Catholic exorcism," Benito Gallego, dean of Oviedo Cathedral told La Opinión A Coruña. 

"It may be that it was some sort of cult ritual, faith healing or voodoo, but is far removed from the exorcism practised by the Catholic Church," he said.  

Sanctioned exorcisms are regularly carried out by the Catholic Church in Spain. 

Germany - Webcam girl "fights in court ," work at home mom ?

Published: 04 Oct 2016 14:21 GMT+02:00

Updated: 04 Oct 2016 14:21 GMT+02:00

German porn star Natalie Hot will appear in court on Wednesday to defend her right to work as a 'webcam girl', stripping and performing for erotic chat rooms.

The trial will revolve around the question of whether stripping on camera qualifies as "working from home".

The 24-year-old, who is well-known in Germany with more than 6,000 'likes' on her official fan page, works from her detached house in Ampfing, Bavaria. The town is home to 6,000 residents, several of whom have lodged legal complaints over their neighbour's chosen profession.

Hot is challenging a decision by local authorities that prevented her from undressing on camera, threatening a penalty of €2,000 if she doesn't adhere to the ban.

Their reasoning is that her house is in a specific land-use area, which does not allow for commercial use - in fact, the room Hot uses for her work is intended as a children's bedroom.

Complaints made by neighbours also included claims that Hot was too noisy, and that their children were being mocked at school for living near a porn star.

"Some people will always complain for some reason," said Hot, who does not want her real name made public.

"Light pollution, I'm too loud, the children can't sleep - that kind of thing." 

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Berlin- Teenagers killed by train while on tracks ...

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Berlin- Teenagers killed by train while on tracks ...: Published: 04 Oct 2016 15:34 GMT+02:00 Updated: 04 Oct 2016 15:34 GMT+02:00 Two young men, 18 and 19, were run over and killed by ...

Berlin- Teenagers killed by train while on tracks spraying graffiti

Published: 04 Oct 2016 15:34 GMT+02:00

Updated: 04 Oct 2016 15:34 GMT+02:00

Two young men, 18 and 19, were run over and killed by a train around midnight Sunday night in Berlin.

Police reported on Monday that the accident occurred on the S1 line between the stations Wittenau and Wilhelmsruh.

 

Police believe the two were on a section of the S-Bahn rails on a bridge when a train heading in the direction of Wannsee drove through and rolled over them.

 

The train driver told police that he heard a rumbling sound, and then stopped the train. He then found the two young men, already dead, after he got out of the train to figure out what had caused the noise.

 

Fresh graffiti was found in the area of the bridge where the teens had been, as well as several cans of paint and a backpack containing other graffiti paraphernalia.

 

According to Tagesspiegel, the victims were from Berlin and were already known to police as graffiti painters, as well as for other crimes.

 

A police helicopter was called to the spot in order to light up the scene while the bodies of the two were removed by the fire services.

 

The train was able to travel on from the scene of the incident after two hours. However, the 50 passengers on board the S1 train had to remain inside the carriage for the two hours while the bodies were being removed because it was too risky to have them exit out of the train and across the tracks in the dark.

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Missing Swiss cat turns up 600km away in Germany

Joe's Crime Blog/Human Right's Site: Missing Swiss cat turns up 600km away in Germany: Published: 30 Sep 2016 12:28 GMT+02:00 A family's much-loved cat who went missing from her home in the north-eastern Swiss city of...