Dozens of cows loose, several killed after crash in Atlanta
An overturned livestock truck spilled a herd of cows onto a highway cloverleaf north of Atlanta on Monday, causing traffic chaos including wrecks that killed several cows and injured a driver. Local riders used horses to help police round up stray cattle, while local drivers faced long delays on Interstate 285, the highway that circles Atlanta, and Interstate 75, northwest of Georgia's largest city.
Cows have been spotted wandering along the Interstate 285, outside a local bank with an all night ATM, and near the Chatahoochee River.
"Delays in Cobb County. Live cows loose," Georgia's state Department of Transportation warned on its Twitter feed. The exit ramp was still blocked during the morning rush hour, as rescue crews worked to cut the trailer open and free the cows stuck inside before they could clear the wrecked truck from the road, the Department said in a tweet.
More than half the cattle were still on the loose by mid-morning, local media reported.
"We don't know where they are," said Sgt. Joe Worsham of the Sandy Springs Police Department. "We're waiting for people to call and tell us there's a cow in the backyard."
The wreck happened about 3 a.m. Monday on the Cobb Cloverleaf connecting Interstates 75 and 285. "We're wrangling some cows, that's what we're doing," said Worsham.
Police counted at least four accidents caused by the wandering cows, Worsham said. No one was injured in any of those accidents, although several cows were hurt and some had to be tranquilized as officers tried to corral them.
Several people on horseback are searching for the escaped cows in the area of Akers Mill Road near Chatahoochee River, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Another herd of cows spilled onto Interstate 75 in May, leaving 10 cows dead. A cattle truck overturned on Interstate 285 in June, spilling nearly 40 cows onto the highway. Three were killed.
