Friday, September 28, 2007

And that's no bull!

This reminds me of when I was driving back from Iowa last year and there was an overturned truck of cattle on I80 that I had to stop for.

I was alerted to this story by my brother who lives in the St L.

Taken directly from www.postdispatch.com:

By Joel Currier
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A tractor-trailer transporting about 60 head of cattle overturned on the ramp from the Poplar Street Bridge to westbound Interstate 70 about midnight, trapping many of the animals and loosing others to roam the Arch grounds.Part of the truck was dangling over the edge of the bridge as firefighters used flashlights to peer inside and check on the cattle. Five were walking on the ramp behind the truck. Several other animals had crossed to the Arch grounds.Animal rescue was called to the scene to help; authorities said some animals were injured and would likely need to be euthanized.The truck driver was taken to a hospital, fire officials said, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening.The ramp was closed early Thursday morning, as were the westbound lanes of I-70 and parts of Interstate 55 beginning south of the bridge, including the depressed section of the roadway.One motorist reported crashing his red Ford Thunderbird into a streetlamp that fell from above near the site of the cattle truck crash. He was not injured.

ST. LOUIS -- The last of the roaming bulls was found about 6 a.m. today and died about four hours later as rescue crews tried frantically to save it.It died about about 10:30 a.m. in a bushy and rocky embankment along a tree-lined area between the Mississippi River and railroad tracks just east of the intersection of Broadway and Bates Street.The bull was initially spotted in the 3800 block of Gasconade Street in St. Louis. People who spotted the bull called 911 and dispatchers alerted animal rescue workers.The bull nearly ran onto busy Interstate 55, but crews were able to coax it away from the highway. The bull then took off and ran for about two miles south along railroad tracks. Crews pursued but the bull eventually stumbled down the steep embankment.
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Crews tried to free the bull which had its legs twisted and wedged between boulders but the animal quickly went into shock and died."It's very disappointing," said Roger Vincent of the Missouri Emergency Response Service. "We were hoping to save him and send him on his happy way."Crews now are struggling with how to get the bull out of the embankment.The bull was among many in a truckload that escaped early Thursday after a truck accident on a ramp on the Poplar Street Bridge.

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