Several cows were injured and two were not expected to live after the doors on a cattle trailer opened on the Maine Turnpike on Monday morning.
The incident happened at about 11:30 a.m. at Exit 79 in Lewiston, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said in a news release.
Based on an initial investigation by state police, Moss said a pickup truck towing a cattle trailer was headed south when the rear doors of the trailer unlatched and three cows fell onto the highway.
One cow landed in the passing lane and suffered a broken leg, and the other two fell to the shoulder sustaining road rash. A fourth cow ran out of the trailer and into the woods nearby after the truck stopped, Moss said.
Police closed one lane of traffic while the driver, Dustin Bubar, 39, of Stetson, loaded the animals back into the trailer. Bubar was cited for unsecured load on a vehicle.
Moss said two of the cows were expected to be euthanized because of the severity of their injuries.
