A German train ploughed into four cows in a tunnel Sunday, in the latest in a series of accidents involving trains and animals in a little over a month, dpa reported.
Three of the cows, all of the Scottish Highlander breed, died in the accident in a tunnel near the town of Brilon in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The fourth was hurt.
According to initial reports, the cows had burst through a fence while fleeing wild boars.
On April 29, a train slammed into a herd of cows near the town of Arnstadt in the eastern state of Thuringia at around 90 kilometres an hour.
Twelve cows were killed on impact and a 13th was put down by police.
Three days earlier, a high speed ICE train ploughed into a flock of sheep in a tunnel while travelling at 220 kilometres an hour.
Most of the train was derailed and 19 passengers suffered injuries ranging from bruises to broken bones. Twenty sheep were killed.
That accident took place near the city of Fulda in the state of Hesse in Germany's longest train tunnel.
While Germany's ICE are seen as extremely safe, the world's worst ever accident involving a high-speed train occurred in June 1998, when an ICE derailed as a result of a broken wheel near the town of Eschede.
The Eschede accident claimed 101 lives and left many more injured.