(Adair, Iowa) – An accident early this (Wednesday) morning, north of Adair, resulted in the death of 18 hogs, some of which were badly injured and had to be put down by law enforcement. Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright told KJAN News the accident happened at around 3:30-a.m. as the semi tractor trailer was heading west/southbound on White Pole Road. When the semi came to the intersection with Frontier Road, the driver slowed down, but didn’t get slowed-down enough to stop at the posted intersection. As he turned right onto Frontier Road, a load of about 160 fat hogs being taken to market, shifted, causing the trailer to tip over into the ditch, taking the semi cab with it.

Sheriff Arganbright said the hogs loaded on the top, inside deck of the trailer, went through the roof of the trailer and became piled-up onto of one another. The animals – he said – were scared and traumatized. They had lived most of their lives on a concrete pad and were already stressed by the road trip. The driver, and his young son (Whose names were not immediately available), were not hurt.

photo submitted to KJAN

The Sheriff and Deputy Blake Michelson worked traffic control while the remaining hogs were being rounded-up and loaded into another livestock trailer. The whole process took about six-hours. Richter and Son Towing removed the semi from the scene.