'Even animals are angry with us': David Blunkett breaks rib in cow stampede

David Blunkett and his guide dog Sadie

Man's best friend: David Blunkett suffered a broken rib while trying to protect his guide dog Sadie from a stampeding cow

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett suffered a broken rib after he was trampled by a stampeding cow.

The blind Labour MP was walking with his 26-year-old son Andrew in the Derbyshire Peak District on Saturday when a herd of cattle charged at his guide dog Sadie.

Mr Blunkett, who was celebrating his 62nd birthday, desperately tried to shield his labrador cross but was trampled to the ground by a particularly angry one-ton cow.

Today the politician said it was a 'miracle' he is still alive.

He said: 'I let go of Sadie and she shot off. The next thing I knew, I'd stumbled to the ground and the animal fell over too.

'She hit my side and broke my rib. Had her full weight of around a ton hit me, I'd have been a gonner.

'I know the public are furious with politicians, but I didn't realise that anger has spread to Britain's cow population too.

'A few more inches and Labour would have been facing another unwelcome by-election in my Sheffield constituency.'

Mr Blunkett was rushed to a specialist doctor by his GP fiancée Margaret Williams, 50, where he was told he was lucky to have not suffered a punctured lung.

'There is a serious message from this,' he said. 'Beware of herds of cattle, especially when walking a dog and when calves are about.

'I've made inquiries and the incidence of people being attacked by cattle is extremely high, especially this time of year.'

Dairy cows

Close call: Mr Blunkett has warned other dog walkers to watch out for herds of cattle, 'especially when calves are about'