BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com

A visiting PhD at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Luke McClintock was injured Sunday afternoon while running on a trail in Rendija Canyon below the Los Alamos Sportsmen’s Club.

McClintock told the Los Alamos Reporter that he was running close to the totem on the trail with one ear bud in his ear. He said the feral cow was about 10 feet off the trail and all of a sudden he made eye contact with it. The cow rushed him and knocked him over.

“I heard it before I even saw it and barely dodged out of the way of the full charge, but it crushed my foot and tore my sock and shoe off,” McClintock said. “I was able to climb a small cliff to escape and limped to the Sportsmen’s Club for help.”

He called the number given for the Sportsmen’s Club online and shooting was shut down at the Club while McClintock was located and brought out by Steve McKelvey and others who were at the Club at the time.

“They got me to a vehicle that took me to the Los Alamos Medical Center emergency room for x-rays and now I’m in a boot,” McClintock said. ” I won’t be running that trail or any trail for a while it seems.”

McClintock won a fellowship to come to LANL for two years from the University of California-Davis to finish his PhD in Physics.

The Reporter reached out to Eric Peterson who manages Open Spaces & Trails for Los Alamos County. Peterson confirmed that the trail in question is on property currently owned by the Department of Energy.

In April, May and June this year, Los Alamos County hired a contractor to remove feral cattle from the area in conjunction with the Pueblo of San Ildefonso, however, not all the cattle have been removed. A large black bull was spotted near Guaje Pines Cemetery over the weekend. The Department of Energy has been working with the County on a proposed transfer of land in Rendija Canyon to the County.