Trailer With Brahma Bulls Flips East of Salem

Police say no bulls were injured.

Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - State and county police, and highway department crews had their hands full Saturday evening on Highway 22E east of Salem after a trailer carrying 4 "very unhappy" Brahma bulls flipped over.

Steve Hinkle with the Oregon State Police says none of the bulls were injured, "and with the assistance of cowboys transporting the bulls they were eventually placed into another trailer following intermittent closures of the highway over a 3 hour period."

It happened at 6:36 PM when a pickup towing a cattle trailer with the bulls inside was traveling downhill westbound on Highway 22E near milepost 5 and the trailer flipped over.

The highway has 4 lanes at that point of this crash, and after Oregon State Police troopers and ODOT arrived they had to shut down both inside lanes reducing traffic to one lane each direction. There were also intermittent total road closures as needed.

The four Brahma bulls got out of the trailer and wandered into the roadway, according to Hinkle. "The cowboys transporting the bulls had a difficult time containing and controlling them. Eventually another trailer was located that came to the scene and with difficulty the bulls were loaded onto it. The overturned trailer was then removed from the scene by a tow truck."

Marion County Sheriff's Office deputies and ODOT Incident Response assisted with traffic control. The highway was completely reopened about 9:15 PM.