Fatal Injury Caused by a Ram (Ovis Aries) Attack

Abstract

Animal-inflicted injuries to humans are a major public health problem around the world resulting in great morbidity, money loss, and mortality. They are related to wild and domestic animals alike. Animals can cause injuries by various mechanisms--biting, stinging, crushing, goring, stomping, butting, kicking, pecking, etc. We present a case of a ram's attack with fatal consequences. A 4-year-old, 120 kg jezersko-solčava breed ram with prior history of aggressive behavior inflicted multiple injuries to his 83-year-old owner, who died in the hospital a few hours later due to severe blunt force injuries sustained in the attack. The autopsy revealed the cause of death to be multiple injuries of the thorax and the head. Sheep, even though they are not considered aggressive or large farm animals such as cattle and horses, can inflict serious injuries with devastating results.

Death by Ram Attack: A Case Report from Greece and a Brief Review of the Literature

“…Nowadays, fatal injuries by ram attack appear to be extremely rare incidents, thus hindering the experience required for their medicolegal investigation. Only eleven cases are reported in the literature, in which death was attributed to blunt force injuries and one more, in which death was classified as an accident during shearing .…”

“…In 2015, another fatality by a hornless ram was reported, this time in Croatia. The blunt force injuries, that caused death, were located on the head, thorax, and the upper extremities . Finally, a bizarre accidental death involving sheep shearing was reported in Australia, when a sheep kicked the shear out of the hand of a 29‐year‐old man, causing him a lethal incision wound on the neck .…”

“…These animals may headbutt the victim repeatedly. They may also kick the victim with their legs, and in many cases, a ram may back up and run to the victim, in order to develop high speed and to maximize the impact strength .…”

Most Common Medico-Legal Autopsy-Related Human and Nonhuman Biological Samples for DNA Analysis

“…The types of cases regarding a variety of exotic and wild animals as well as livestock or pets span a wide range from sharp force trauma to poisoning [58][59][60][61][62][63]. Animal attacks on humans occasionally may turn into lethal accidents, but usually the deaths resulted from unwitnessed attacks [63,64] require medico-legal investigations.…”

Farming deaths – an ongoing problem

“…The most significant injuries involve the head and face, and then the upper torso. Pigs may cause significant injuries with their tusks, or from biting, and sheep have been known to cause lethal blunt force injuries from charging handlers [11,13]. An unusual death caused by a sheep was severing of the major neck vessels by electric clippers that had been knocked out of the shearers hand [14].…”