Two Texas Wrecks With Live Cargo Send Animals Scurrying Across Highways (Video)

AUSTIN, TX — And you thought your work commute was bad.

Live cargo inside two trucks in a pair of separate Texas incidents spilled animals onto the roadway. One truck rollover inadvertently released dozens of snakes, a baby alligator and tortoise. The other incident in south Dallas sent seven pigs onto the roadway, yielding a much-watched live stream that became an Internet sensation as efforts to wrangle the critters was broadcast in real time by local media outlets.

The first accident occurred early Thursday when an 18-wheeler loaded with about 100 pigs headed to market crashed, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and other media outlets reported. Emergency officials closed Interstate 45 as a result, keeping the artery closed for several hours as the surviving pigs made a dash for freedom.

But their flight was short-lived. Hours after spilling out of the truck, the porcine pandemonium ended after the animals were recaptured. The accident occurred just after 6:30 a.m. in the southbound lane of Interstate 45 when the truck carrying the pigs tipped onto its side, the newspaper reported. The vehicle's driver was uninjured.

"We had a total of 195," Wilner Police Department Lt. Eric Pon told KTVT, referring to the number of hogs on the highway. The officer noted the number of pig casualties was unknown. "The biggest challenge we’ve had so far was just corralling the pigs, keeping 'em from getting into oncoming traffic and getting run over, but I do believe we’ve got all of them."

The Associated Press captured some of the chaos on videotape:

Hours later in Bexar County, a minivan carrying 30 snakes, a baby alligator and a tortoise spilled onto Interstate 35 on the southwest side of the county, as the San Antonio Express-News reported. Among the live cargo escaping from the wreckage were some venomous snakes, according to the report.

That reptilian wreck occurred at around 12:30 p.m. on the I-35 northbound lanes near Shepherd Road when the vehicle rolled over onto the access road, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

According to the report, the driver and a nine-year-old boy were trapped inside the overturned vehicle until emergency crews were able to free him from the wreckage. Both were rushed to the San Antonio Military Medical Center for treatment of their injuries.

The worry now is that snakes. Animal control officers from Lytle, Texas, were on scene trying to wrangle them up because among them are venomous rattlesnakes and cottonmouths. No bites have been reported since the rollover.

This has been a traffic report from the Lone Star state of Texas, where such things are, surprisingly, not uncommon. Pigs, alligators, a tortoise and snakes—oh my!

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