Stampede

Cattle stampede

Any unusual occurrence may start a stampede among cattle. Especially at night, things such as lighting a match, someone jumping off a horse, a horse shaking itself, a lightning strike, a tumbleweed blown into the herd, or "a horse running through a herd kicking at a saddle which has turned under its belly" have been known to cause stampedes.[4]

A large stampede typically eliminates everything in its path. With livestock, cowboys attempt to turn the moving herd into itself, so that it runs in circles rather than running off a cliff or into a river, and avoids damaging human life or property. Tactics used to make the herd turn into itself include firing a pistol, which creates noise to make the leaders of the stampede turn.[4]

Animals who stampede, especially cattle, are less likely to do so after having eaten and spread out in smaller groups to digest.[4] To further reduce the risk of stampedes, cowboys sometimes sing or whistle to calm the herds disquieted by nightfall. Those on watch at night avoid doing things which could startle the herd and even distance themselves before dismounting a horse or lighting a match.[5]

Sometimes humans purposefully induce cattle to stampede as a component of warfare or hunting, such as some Native Americans, who were known to provoke American bison herds to stampede off a buffalo jump for hunting purposes, and harvest the animals after they are killed or incapacitated by the fall.

If you look at the analysis, I’ve not seen any instances of the cause of mass fatalities being a stampede. People don’t die because they panic. They panic because they are dying.

— Keith Still, professor of crowd science at Manchester Metropolitan University[3]

Stampede is not only an incorrect term, it is a loaded word, as it assigns blame to the victims for behaving in an irrational, self-destructive, unthinking and uncaring manner, it's pure ignorance, and laziness [...] It gives the impression that it was a mindless crowd only caring about themselves, and they were prepared to crush people.

In virtually all these situations this is not the case, and it is usually the authorities to blame for poor planning, poor design, poor control, poor policing and mismanagement.

The truth is that people are only directly crushed by others who have no choice in the matter, and the people who can choose don’t know what is going on because they’re too far away from the epicentre.

— Edwin Galea, professor of fire safety engineering at the University of Greenwich, England[6]

... far from mass panic occurring, being in an emergency can create a common identity among those affected. A consequence of this is that people are cooperative and altruistic towards others – even when among strangers, and/or in life–threatening situations.[7]

— Cocking, Drury and Reicher

Crushes often occur during religious pilgrimages[8] and large entertainment events, as they tend to involve dense crowds, with people closely surrounded on all sides. Human stampedes and crushes also occur as people try to get away from a perceived danger, as in a case where a noxious gas was released in crowded premises.[9]

While sensational media reports often talk of "panic", research has found that mass panic is rare;[10] on the contrary, people continue to help each other at the risk of their lives.[11][7] The scientific consensus is that true "human stampedes" and "panics" rarely occur except when many people are fleeing in fear, such as from a fire,[11] and trampling by people in such 'stampede' conditions rarely causes fatal injuries unless egress is impeded.[3]

• List of fatal crowd crushes