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Sep. 21, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Truck hauling hogs crashes

47 animals killed as incident closes entrance ramp for seven hours

By BETH WALTON
REVIEW-JOURNAL

A man herds hogs away from the scene of a truck crash Thursday as several pigs killed in the accident lie next to the semitrailer.
Photo by John Locher.

Death came sooner than expected for 47 pigs en route to a slaughterhouse Thursday, when the truck transporting them rolled over on a valley freeway interchange.

The 79,000-pound truck was traveling the entrance ramp to southbound Interstate 15 from westbound Interstate 215 when it overturned, crushing a guardrail and coming to a stop on an overpass.

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    • For nearly three hours, some of the 160 pigs trapped inside the two-story trailer of the big rig squealed loudly as authorities waited for the arrival of another trailer to transport the hogs. Nearly a dozen pigs had escaped through a crack in the roof of the trailer during the 9:55 a.m. accident, and officials feared that more would get loose.

    "I wouldn't say this is common, but it's not the first," said trooper Kevin Honea, spokesman for the Nevada Highway Patrol.

    Bystanders watched three pigs, their heads stacked on one another and extending from the back door of the trailer. The pig on the bottom made seizurelike movements, repeatedly bucking its snout violently up and down while squealing. Then, for a short time, its body would fall still.

    "It's a really bad situation, but there's no other solution," said Xenia Duranovic, inspector with the State Department of Agriculture. "If they all started running around, God knows how many wrecks you'd have. This is just a bad thing in a bad spot."

    The crash cracked the welding connecting the trailer's floor and sides, preventing officials from pulling the truck upright. The weight of the livestock could have caused the crack in the trailer to widen, allowing more pigs to escape and endangering nearby motorists, Honea said.

    Officials also were concerned the pigs' movement might break the vehicle's fiberglass roof, causing the animals to tumble onto the rocks beneath the overpass.

    "If more pigs get out we have an even bigger problem," said David March, a supervisor with Clark County Animal Control.

    Five more pigs escaped about 90 minutes after the crash, when two tow trucks pulled the rig four or five feet onto the road to prevent it from falling from the overpass.

    The trailer lurched as the tow trucks pulled it over the crushed guardrail and onto the pavement, breaking the legs of several animals. The pigs' dirty, bloodstained faces watched officials and shrieked as their limbs, caught in the holes on the side of the trailer, were crushed.

    "We're trying to keep them calm, pigs have a herd mentality and when one gets excited, they all do," said March, holding a lasso to secure the loose pigs.

    The dozen or so pigs that escaped from the trailer lay calmly on the rock landscaping near the overpass.

    At 1 p.m., crews arrived with trailers to transport the hogs. Workers used vehicles and nets to form a makeshift corral and keep the animals from going on the highway. One by one they dragged the animals out of the truck.

    Those that were still alive were moved to the trailers. Injured pigs were euthanized at the scene. And the dead pigs were piled to the side of the overturned trailer.

    The surviving 113 pigs were taken to R.C. Farms in North Las Vegas.

    The pigs will be returned to Circle Four Farms Feedmill in Milford, Utah, which owns the livestock, said Clark County Animal Control chief Joe Boteilho.

    The pigs, which were being transported to a slaughterhouse in Vernon, Calif., by Gurney Trucking, had an estimated value of $50,000 to $60,000, said a driver with the Utah-based trucking company who asked not to be named.

    He had just arrived with the pigs in Las Vegas from Utah, before turning the rig over to another driver.

    Handling livestock is difficult because it is not a "stiff cargo," he said. When animals move back and forth the trailer leans with their weight.

    He estimated that the hogs made up nearly 60 percent of the truck's weight.

    The cause of the accident remained under investigation, Honea said. There is no evidence that drugs or alcohol were a factor in the incident. Initial investigations ruled out mechanical failure and Honea said the driver might have been going too fast.

    The driver of the truck was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center for minor injuries.

    The ramp was closed to traffic for seven hours.

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    Hmmm wrote on September 21, 2007 11:47 PM: So, in other words, he was just negligent. The truck didn't turn over by itself. Was he, perhaps SPEEDING????


    SONYA wrote on September 21, 2007 09:38 PM: NOT ALL TRUCK DRIVERS DO DRUGS!!TRUCK DRIVERS KEEP THIS WORLD MOVING THEY BRING YOU YOUR FOOD,CLOTHING,CARS ECT..I GUARANTEE EVERYTHING YOU OWN HAS BEEN ON ATLEAST ONE TRUCK!AND THE BRIGHT IDEA TO TEST EVERY DRIVER AT A STATE LINE GET REAL!!DO YOU HOW LONG THAT WOULD TAKE AND HOW MUCH MORE TRAFFIC THAT WOULD CAUSE LIKE WE NEED THAT NOT TO MENTION THE COST IN IT ALL!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!YOU GET OUT THERE AND DRIVE TRUCK AND SEE WHAT KIND OF B/S YOU HAVE TO PUT UP W/ FROM THE OTHE IDIOT DRIVERS ON THE ROAD THE HAVE NO RESPECT FOR TRUCK DRIVERS!! AND JUST FOR THE RECORD THIS DRIVER IS A CLOSE FRIEND OF MINE AND I NO DRUGS WERE NOT A FACTOR AND IF YOU READ OR LISTEN TO THE NEWS YOU WOULD KNOW THAT!!!!!!!


    Don wrote on September 21, 2007 05:00 PM: Mmmmm...nothing like waking up on a cool Saturday morning to the smell of ham and bacon cooking, with eggs over easy, hot pancakes, and fresh coffee brewing. Later on in the afternoon, fire up the barbecue and throw on some fat, juicy pork chops and let the delicious odor waft through the neighborhood. Thank you pig farmers!


    sonya wrote on September 21, 2007 02:41 PM: HEY DELRAY!! HOW LONG DO YOU THINK IT WOULD TAKE TO STOP EVERY TRUCK AT THE STATE LINE TO TEST THEM?? LIKE TRAFFIC ISN'T BAD ENOUGH ALREADY!! NOT TO MENTION THE COST OF IT ALL!ARE YOU KIDDING ME?NOT ALL TRUCK DRIVERS DO DRUGS!AND IT SO HAPPENS THAT THIS DRIVER IS A CLOSE FRIEND OF MINE AND HE DON'T DO DRUGS!IF IT WASEN'T FOR ALL THE TRUCK DRIVERS HOW DO U THINK U WOULD GET YOUR FOOD,CLOTHING,FURNITURE ANYTHING FOR THAT MATTER EVERYTHING YOU OWN I GUARENTEE HAS BEEN ON A TRUCK ATLEAST ONCE!!!SO GIVE ME A BREAK WITH YOUR WE SHOULD TEST THEM CRAP!!!!


    Valis wrote on September 21, 2007 01:15 PM: I am a meat eater, but I also have compation for animals, I feel sad for the pigs. It's death and death is sad, it's why I always wear black. To quote wynona ryder from beetlejuice "Someone somewhere died".


    Robert wrote on September 21, 2007 12:28 PM: Who is the photo editor on this story? Did you even look at the picture before putting the photo on this story up?


    meat wrote on September 21, 2007 10:22 AM: Humans have sharp teeth in their mouths for a reason. To eat meat. You vegetarians are all a bunch of idiots. It is unnatural to eat nothing but non-animal products. We are omnivores. PETA---Dont be scared of the meat, you know you want some.


    peta wrote on September 21, 2007 09:54 AM: This is a horrible tragedy. The whole scenario is George Bush's fault. If we didn't teach our kids to eat meat, these poor piggies would be roaming the hills and multiplying by the millions, then some would no longer be capable of work, and we would pay more taxes to help the piggies get welfare (especially the black ones, and the ones from trailer parks who marry their sisters).

    Other piggies could sneak over piggie borders where those piggies are much wealthier and bath more on a regular basis. They could get jobs cleaning up for the richer piggies, who yap on cell phones and drive hummers 2 blocks for a $5 latte. And the best part of all is the richer piggies wont have to print all their signs and forms in another language, since pigs speak the universal language of Oink!!!


    piggy wrote on September 21, 2007 09:27 AM: They should let the pigs that survived have a long and happy life. They have been through enough!


    delray wrote on September 21, 2007 08:45 AM: these truck drivers are dangerous, they are hyped on stimulants. we need to test them at the state line. technology allows us to test their saliva and have result instantly.


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