Woman crushed to death by cow while helping it give birth

A health and safety investigation will be carried out

A female Holstein-Friesian milk cow (Creative Commons)

A woman has died in the Scottish isles after being crushed while helping a cow give birth.

A spokesperson for Police Scotland said it had received a report of a fatal work-related accident at an agricultural site on the Shetland mainland.

The incident happened at Bixter in the western of the island.

Local newspaper The Shetland Times identified the woman as Patricia Wishart of the hamlet of Tumblin.

She was 62-year-olds, the newspaper said.

The accident was reported to police at 5.12pm on Friday, according to a spokesperson for Police Scotland.

A joint investigation by Police Scotland and the Health and Safety Executive will now be carried out.

Earlier this year a Devon farmer was forced to kill half his herd of cows after they tried to kill agricultural workers.

The Heck cows, the only ones of their kind in the UK, were originally bio-engineered by Nazi scientists.

Over 20 people are killed in the United States each year by cows.