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What the Heck? Farmer forced to destroy most of 'Nazi' cow herd

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In a bizarre sounding turn of events, a British farmer has had to destroy over half his herd of cows because they were too aggressive.

Derek Gow began breeding the Heck breed on his Devon farm in 2009 when he took in 13 of the cows.

Until recently, he had more than 20. He now has six because they were too dangerous to handle and "would try to kill anyone".

His decision to breed them caused a stir at the time, primarily because of their links to Nazi Germany.

They were created in by German brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck in the 1920s and 30s. The zoologist siblings wanted to recreate the auroch, an extinct European ox and an important beast in Teutonic mythology as a form of Nazi propaganda.

Mr Gow told The Guardian: “To create this animal they used Spanish fighting cattle to give them the shape and ferocity they wanted. The reason the Nazis were so supportive of the project is they wanted them to be fierce and aggressive."

That certainly turned out to be true.

Gow added: ”The ones we had to get rid of would just attack you any chance they could. They would try to kill anyone.They are by far the most aggressive animals I have ever worked with. Some were perfectly calm and they are the ones we have kept"

Heck cattle have long horns and dark shaggy coats. Mr Gow says that  the breed has  little commercial value.

Though he admitted to The Independent that the culled cows made for some  “very tasty” sausages with a taste not unlike venison

Source: The Guardian, The Independent

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