Update: Of the 162 pigs being transported, nine died, according to the Monroe Fire Protection District.
A couple of pigs walked onto State Road 37 after a livestock trailer overturned on the highway Thursday morning.
The semi was carrying 162 hogs when it collided with a sedan and tipped onto its side near the Old State Road 37 intersection around 8:30 a.m.
Some of the pigs escaped and wandered into the road. State troopers, firefighters, sheriff’s deputies and good samaritans initially helped to keep the pigs out of the intersection. Eventually the fire department corralled the escaped pigs into a makeshift pen using firetrucks, ladders, and stretchers as fencing.
Jason Allen, a public information officer with the Monroe Fire Protection District, said the immediate goal after determining both drivers were ok was taking care of the remaining pigs.
“Our firefighters had worked to corral those few that had gotten out, and then we worked on making a makeshift pen out of our fire trucks and trying to keep them cool and fed and just taken care of,” he said.
Some of the firefighters had no trouble handling the shaken-up hogs.
“It is coincidental enough that …several of our personnel have been 4-H, grew up in 4-H, have been around livestock, still help their kids do it nowadays even,” he said. “So they were very useful today to help understand what we need to do to take care of things.”
There were no human injuries. The rescue team confirmed 62 pigs were OK around 10 a.m. and were working to free the rest from the trailer.
The company that owned the hogs sent a second semi as well as a smaller trailer to pick up those that had been rescued from the wreck.
Katy Szpak contributed to this story.
