Unthinkable happens on remote farm: New details emerge about couple’s ‘weird and crazy’ death
An elderly couple killed by a rampaging ram is believed to have died instantly as the impact of the animal’s horns was comparable to ‘being hit by a sledgehammer at 80 miles per hour’, son claims of the victim.
Helge and Gaye Hansen, a husband and wife both in their 80s, were found dead on Thursday morning on their property on Anzac Valley Road in Waitakere, New Zealand, where they kept sheep, chickens and cattle.
Gaye’s son discovered the pair before he was attacked by the aggressive animal.
He had gone to check on his parents after not hearing from them for a few days.
The ram also tried to attack police officers before they shot him dead.
Anthony, the son of Helge and his ex-wife Jan, said it was ‘damn intense for both of them to be taken out… under such strange, crazy circumstances’.
He said his father was “very careful with rams” because he used to run a sheep farm and was aware of how cruel the animals could be during mating season.
Helge and Gaye Hansen, a husband and wife both in their 80s, were found dead on their Anzac Valley Road property in Waitakere, New Zealand, on Thursday morning.
Police are pictured with evidence bags on the property where the retired couple died
Police are seen at the home of a couple who were reportedly killed by a ram on their property
“It’s quite brutal – their heads are designed to absorb the impact, but it’s like a sledgehammer swinging at you at 60 to 80 miles per hour,” Anthony said. Stuff.
Anthony said the family took some comfort in the fact that their deaths would have been quick.
“He did the things he loved to do and it’s over very quickly,” he said.
“That’s something to give us a little more comfort: that Dad didn’t suffer.”
Anthony’s mother, Jan Hansen, his father’s ex-wife, said she believed Helge went to feed the animals while Gaye cooked dinner.
When he didn’t return, she thinks Gaye went to investigate.
“That ram must have been waiting for her to come through the gate, I guess,” she told the website.
‘Don’t think that animals can’t think. A male animal during mating season can be quite vicious.’
It comes as an animal behavior specialist has revealed ram attacks leave victims with injuries similar to those sustained in a car crash.
Dr. Lindsay Matthews, chief scientist at Matthews Research International, said the attacks were rare: until 2019, there had been only 11 reports of a human being killed by a ram worldwide.
But he said the animals, which can weigh up to 150kg, could attack unexpectedly and at great speed.
‘Rams may butt other males very hard, then back up and attack each other, hitting the front of the head with cross force,’ Dr Matthews said. RNZ.
He added: ‘Unless you keep an eye on them all the time, you can be hit very suddenly.
“The reported injuries appear consistent with being hit by a car.”
The death of the elderly couple has been referred to the coroner.
A joint funeral will reportedly take place on Wednesday.