This story is affecting me from so many different angles. The trucker in me is screaming “why is he moving a flock of sheep at 10 p.m.?” The farmer in me is screaming “why is he on the road at this time of night?” Time to get the scrappers out and try to solve this mystery.
Hundreds of sheep dead after incident, everyone involved traumatized
For the Aussie truckies out there, I guess you better be fearing the black sheep over the black dog now. According to reports by Daily Mail Australia, a Collins Adelaide driver was traveling down a two-lane roadway in South Australia at around 10 p.m. Wednesday evening.
The driver was pulling his rig (unknown if he was in standard configuration or road train) around a curve and flipped on the high beams. What he saw then is going to haunt him for the rest of his life.
A full flock of sheep, hundreds of the wooly puffballs, were being shepherded down the roadway between pastures. The driver did the best he could to stop the tractor-trailer, but to no avail.
‘It’s not often you get a farmer moving a flock of sheep at 10 o’clock at night.”
Collins Trucks in an interview with Daily Mail Australia
What happened next was a sad massacre as the momentum of the truck forced it to annihilate a sizable portion of the flock. Dash cam footage shows the moments leading up to the event.
Cleaning up the aftermath
Police and road crews worked overnight to attempt to clean up the carnage. Sheep had to be literally “peeled” off the road, according to one worker.
The shepherd and police worked to attempt to round up the remaining animals, but many fled in terror when their flockmates were killed. Collins Trucks said that the driver was doing fine, but would not comment further.
South Australia Police are investigating the incident. No charges have been filed at this time. The status of any legal filings by either party is unknown.
Why were the sheep moved at night?
So why were the wooly critters being moved at night? Sheep can get hot real quick when they are being moved from pasture to pasture. They are wearing insulation around the core of their bodies.
Sheep can get heat exhaustion if moved during hot days, so shepherds Down Under wait until the cool of the evening to make their transfers. This was an unfortunate incident and I hope both parties understand why each was in that place at that moment.
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