Some cows were injured after falling from a trailer on Interstate 95 in Maine Monday when the trailer’s doors opened, police said. Two of the injured animals will have to be euthanized due to the severity of their injuries.
Dustin Bubar, 39, of Stetson, was driving a pickup hauling a livestock trailer southbound on I-95 in Lewiston, the Maine State Police Department said. The vehicle was involved in an accident around 11.30 am at exit 79.
The cattle trailer’s doors were not properly secured, causing them to come off, police said. As a result, the cattle inside were moved, causing three cattle inside to fall from the back of the trailer onto the roadway. A cow ran out of the vehicle once the trailer stopped.
Another cow landed in the passing lane of the freeway and broke its leg, police said. The other two cows had road rash and were found in the breakdown lane.
A fourth cow ran out of the trailer and into nearby woods, police said. Officers caught one of the cows by tying it to the back of a police cruiser. One soldier worked with another person to help calm the other animals to prevent them from moving.
One lane was temporarily closed while Stetson worked to return the animals to the trailer, police said. He was cited with an unsecured load in a vehicle.
That crash is under investigation, police said.