Hundreds Of Piglets Escape After Semitrailer Transporting Them Overturns In Ohio

A semitrailer carrying around 2,200 piglets overturned Monday evening on a highway near Xenia, Ohio. Hundreds of baby pigs escaped and many were killed in the crash, local officials said.

The incident occurred around 7:30 p.m. local time after the semitrailer driver sped through a curve that caused it to turn over, WCPO, a local news network, reported. The piglets were being taken to Indiana from South Carolina. The driver escaped unhurt, but a female passenger, reportedly his fiancée, was injured and taken to a nearby hospital.

The overturning of the trailer gave a chance to the piglets to escape.

"They're in the woods, so I don't think we'll ever get all of them -- I really, really don't," Xenia Township Fire Chief Dean Fox told WCPO. "We'll try as hard as we can to retrieve all of them, but we probably won't retrieve them all."

The crash killed around 300 to 400 piglets, the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing the authorities. Police, firefighters, local parks and recreation officers, and farmers, all helped rescue the piglets. At least 1,500 rescued piglets were taken to Greene County Fairgrounds, according to the AP.

"The help from local farmers meant a lot," Fox told WCPO. "If we didn't have the farmers here with their livestock trailers, there'd be pigs every place still."

The Dayton Daily News, citing officials, reported that legal action will be taken against the driver for failure to control a motor vehicle.

Police also asked residents to keep an eye out for the piglets and report them to the authorities. According to local news network WDTN, officials were also concerned that the escaped piglets might become prey to the coyotes in the area.