| Updated: 6/22/2009 7:27 pm |
Published: 6/22/2009 8:57 am |
Hogs instead of cars populated I-430 northbound Monday morning after an 18-wheeler overturned. At 4:30 Monday morning an 18 wheeler flipped on its side, sending its cargo of 90 hogs onto the freeway and into the woods.
For Terry Wyatt of A-1 recovery, this is a situation he's never seen before. "The trailer had several of them pinned in there. We had to get in there, pull the gates out, and break and release it to get them out of there," Wyatt said.
The job was so big, the Livestock and Poultry Commission was called out to help round up the pigs. "We come out here and the hogs were scattered up and down the interstate everywhere. We had to get four wheelers out here to gather them up," said Terry Wyatt.
Once the interstate was shut down, traffic backed up for miles. When the news was broken to driver John Newton, he said, "Oh, that's gotta be a mess, go Razorbacks."
Unfortunately, at least 20 of the hogs had to be put down because they were injured in the crash, something Terry never thought he would have to deal with so early in the morning.
"I hate seeing the animals suffer like that, we had to get them out of there, and put them down," said Terry Wyatt.
"That's gonna be a mess, that's a mess," Newton said.
Eight hours later, the wrecking crew finally got the mangled big rig upright, and the crew rescued another trapped pig.
The pigs were on their way to market when the driver of the big rig lost control. The driver was treated and released from the hospital. He suffered from minor injuries.
