Hero paramedic saves farmer from being trampled by crazed bull… by hitting it with a WELLY
Keith Harrison was given a jokey ‘Order of the Bull’ award by West Midlands Ambulance Service pals for his bravery
A PARAMEDIC who saved a farmer by hitting a raging bull with a welly was honoured yesterday.
Keith Harrison, 56, arrived at a cattle market to find the man being gorged.
The bull charged at Keith, who scared it off by whacking its nose with the farmer’s boot in Worcester in February.
The 56-year-old Mr Harrison was given a jokey “Order of the Bull” award by West Midlands Ambulance Service pals.
The paramedic said: "Myself and my colleague got a call saying someone had fallen at the cattle market but when we got there we found the gentleman hadn't had a fall but a bull had gorged him and crushed him against a pen.
"It had injured him quite badly but he managed to roll under a five-bar-gate away from the bull who was still in the pen.
"We carried on treating him, putting him on a spinal board and setting up drips but all the time we were aware this bull was becoming angrier and angrier and attempting to climb over the small, flimsy metal gate.
"Simon said we needed to do something and I think I had been watching the Discovery Channel show which said in a shark attack you should hit the shark in the nose to get it off and I wondered if it would work on a bull.
"The only thing around was the welly we had taken off the farmer so I grabbed it with both hands, stood right underneath the bull which had reared up and I just kept hitting it on the nose.
"I must have hit it several times. The bull looked startled but it seemed to have the desired effect and he backed down enough to get the man out to safety."
The rescue unfolded when the bull attacked the farmer at McCartneys livestock auction in Worcester in February this year.
Mr Edwards, a rapid response paramedic who was also at the scene, said: "The bull was really kicking off, he wasn't happy and began charging and jumped on top of a flimsy gate.
"His head and chest were over and he was trying to get the farmer who was about a metre-and-a-half away from him.
"It was a sheep pen and a bull's weight is all at the front of his body so the metal began to buckle.
"We knew if he got out, which looked likely, he would trample the farmer to death.
"I was shaking the gate trying to scare him back, the farmer's wife was shouting at the bull - nothing was working - then Keith took hold of the welly.
"He began waving the welly in front of the bull and whacked him on the nose, I honestly thought it would enrage the bull more.
"After a few whacks with the welly, the bull jumped off the wall and just retreated backwards.
"I've been a paramedic for 25 years and it was probably one of the scariest scenarios I have ever been in.
"The bull was so big and strong it would have killed the farmer and probably us if it wasn't for Keith's actions."
Incredibly the farmer, who has not been named, has made a full recovery.
Mr Harrison added: "I didn't realise how large a bull was - it could have done some real damage.
"It wasn't funny at the time, particularly for the patient, and ultimately if he had got out we would have probably had to try and drag him away as far as we could."
As well as the joke "Order of the Bull", Mr Harrison was commended for his actions at an awards ceremony hosted by the vice lord lieutenant, colonel George Marsh.
He praised Mr Harrison for having "an aura of quiet authority" and "taking charge" of the situation.
— We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.