A farmer said he was "lucky to be alive" after being gored by his herd of 300 water buffalo.

Steven Mitchell, who runs The Buffalo Farm at Auchtertool, near Kirkcaldy, was severely injured after the animals turned on him during a photo shoot on Thursday.

The herd dragged him 50 metres across a field and through a pond, leaving him bruised, bleeding and with severe puncture wounds on his lower body.

The 30-year-old said he has a "huge bond" with his herd, but added it was his fault that they had attacked.

Speaking from his hospital bed in Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, he said: "I was doing a favour for the Fife Council art gallery.

"They were launching a picture competition and they asked me to hold a picture with the buffalo herd as a backdrop.

"I knelt down in front of the herd and all was fine. But then one jumped out and attacked me.

"It was a mother and she let out a war cry because I think it thought I was a threat to the calves in the field, and then the whole herd attacked me."

Mr Mitchell said that when the herd circled him and started to gore him he tried to play dead in the hope that the attack would stop.

But the animals dragged him 50 metres across the field and towards a pond.

"I thought this was it because then they would drown me, but they dragged me out the other side," he said.

"My clothes were ripped off, they punctured my body. I was a total mess."

He said the Council photographer and a museum worker saved his life by driving his pick up truck across the field, blaring its horn, to scatter the herd.

The council workers drove Mr Mitchell to hospital where he had surgery on wounds to his calf, thighs and backside.

Thanking his rescuer, Mr Mitchell said: "Credit to the photographer - who without a doubt saved my life. I'm lucky to be alive."

The farmer added: "I blame myself for what happened - there were a lot of young calves and a lot of cows.

"I would normally never turn my back on the herd and would see them coming but I stupidly did it."