Research Reports

U.S. Highway Accidents Involving Farm Animals

For a full copy of the report, please call 607-583-2225 or email info@farmsanctuary.org or click here to download a PDF.

Approximately 10 billion animals are killed for food every year in the U.S. Most, at some point in their short lives, travel by truck – usually on the way to the slaughterhouse. A new report from Farm Sanctuary reveals the lack of welfare and safety standards in animal transport, the vast number of animal transport accidents and resulting mortality, and the lack of disaster preparedness of those responsible for dealing with this type of accident.

Each year countless thousands of farm animals are killed or injured in U.S. highway accidents. Animals involved in these accidents often suffer severe injuries such as lacerations, broken bones and severe burns. Many die on impact. The survivors, while waiting hours for help to arrive, often die from exposure to extreme temperatures, suffocation from lack of ventilation, or being struck and killed by passing vehicles.

Neither the government nor industry in the U.S. reports transportation accidents involving animals raised for food. Therefore, Farm Sanctuary conducted a survey of media archives to locate information about these unreported accidents. A total of 233 accidents were identified for a recent six-year period. The full list, including the date, location and a brief description of each accident is included in the full report available from Farm Sanctuary. Although the U.S. government does not monitor farm animal transport accidents and has done little to address the problem, governments of other countries have taken action on the issue. Canada’s “Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and

Handling of Farm Animals” includes specific information on responding to highway accidents involving farm animals.
The U.S. animal agriculture industry does not maintain statistics on farm animal transport accidents, or if such statistics are gathered, they are not made available to the public. In contrast, the Canadian industry group Alberta Farm Animal Care (AFAC) has developed a database to track farm animal transport accidents. The group says the information will assist in determining who is experiencing accidents, the cause of the accidents, when and where accidents are occurring, and how accidents are being handled. In addition to monitoring farm animal accidents, AFAC has produced an Alberta Livestock Accident Response Plan and created trained response teams throughout the province to assist with accidents where animals are trapped, injured, or in distress due to trailer rollover. In the U.S., the animal agriculture industry has not, for the most part, developed any policies or procedures to deal with animal transport accidents.

The 233 accidents included in Farm Sanctuary’s report occurred in a total of 44 states. The six states with no accidents in the survey are Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The states with the highest number of accidents in the survey include Kansas with 23 accidents, Texas and Pennsylvania with 14 each, and Missouri with 13. Virginia and California had 12 each. The states with the most accidents are, not surprisingly, the states with a large slaughter industry. The states with the fewest accidents are the states with relatively few slaughterhouses.

Most media accounts of farm animal transport accidents do not include the identity of the trucking company, the farm or feedlot where the animals originated, or the slaughter plant where the animals were headed. Of the few companies mentioned, the ones with the highest number of accidents included Perdue Farms (chickens), Cargill (pigs), Foster Farms (chickens and turkeys), and ConAgra (chickens). The company with the most accidents was Smithfield Foods, with 10 separate accidents involving pigs during the six-year period.

According to the report, over 50% of all animal transport accidents involve calves or cattle. Over 25% involve pigs or hogs, and 15% involve chickens. Other accidents involved turkeys, sheep, goats, bison, and horses. The most common types of accidents include collisions between transport trucks and other vehicles, transport trucks hitting buildings and highway structures, and transport truck rollovers. Over 55% of accidents involved transport trailers overturning on or near the highway when the driver fails to negotiate a curve or corner. This is most likely due to the transport truck being too large and cumbersome to make a normal turn in the roadway. In particular, double-decker animal trailers are likely to overturn because they are top-heavy.
Another cause of accidents is driver fatigue. The U.S. animal agriculture industry expects drivers to work long hours and drivers commonly falsify their driver’s log to circumvent federal driving limit.

It is common for a significant percentage of the animals involved in transport accidents to die or be severely injured during the accidents. However, animals may also be injured in the course of events that follow the initial accident. Often, animals who escape from a smashed or damaged trailer are struck by passing vehicles on the highway. Sometimes escaped animals are shot and killed to prevent collisions between the animals and vehicles on the roadway. Unfortunately, veterinarians and humane society officials are rarely called to the scene to help the injured animals.

Key findings of the report include:

• Neither government nor industry monitors or reports animal transport accidents in the U.S.
• The most common type of animal transport accident is single-vehicle rollover and the most common cause is driver failure to negotiate a curve in the roadway. Driver fatigue is another significant cause of animal transport accidents.
• The current design of animal trailers provides insufficient protection in the event of an accident.
• Most states and localities do not have protocols for dealing with animal transport accidents. As a result, injured animals are usually left to suffer without veterinary care.
• Veterinary treatment of animals at the accident scene can be delayed by the inability to contact the owner or other responsible party (e.g., insurance company). Truckers may not be knowledgeable of animal care and handling techniques.
• Most emergency crews and other first responders are not knowledgeable of animal care and handling techniques. As a result, animals may not be rescued promptly and may be shot and killed as a method of restraint.

Recommendations to the U.S. government and industry include:

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture, state agriculture departments, and the animal agriculture industry should track animal transport accidents and their causes. Information about transport accidents should be made available to the public and used to help prevent future accidents and to improve the treatment of animals affected by these accidents.
• The trucking and animal agriculture industries should design trailers with a reduced risk of rollover. Two-tiered or double-decker trailers should be eliminated. Drivers of animal transports should be educated about the risk of tractor-trailer rollover and how to prevent their occurrence. Federal and state governments should enact limits on the duration of animal transport journeys and on animal stocking densities and require two drivers for lengthy journeys.
• The trucking and animal agriculture industries should design trailers that better protect animals in the event of an accident.
• States and counties should develop accident protocols that include the provision of emergency veterinary treatment by government or private practitioners. All states should enact veterinary Good Samaritan laws.
• The animal agriculture industry should develop accident protocols and emergency teams to respond to the scene of major transport accidents.
• State and county governments should hold first responder training in animal rescue, care and handling.