2 Horses Struck and Killed by Cars in Dallas After Breaking Loose from Trailer on the Highway
An unusual scene on the highway in Texas resulted in the deaths of two horses.
Around 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning, Dallas police began receiving calls about horses that were on the loose near Interstate 35E and Texas 183, with one caller advising that a horse had been hit, Dallas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Raul Reyna told PEOPLE in a statement.
When police arrived at the scene, they saw several horses loose around the area, and discovered that a second horse had been hit.
The owner of the animals told authorities there were 13 horses in total, and that all of them had escaped from their trailer.
“Deputies found that the trailer door had opened as the truck was on the highway and the ponies managed to get out onto the freeway with two of them being struck and killed,” Reyna told PEOPLE.
“The owner said they had stayed at a nearby hotel and someone must have unlocked the trailer during the night,” Reyna told the Star-Telegram. “The owner didn’t check it when he pulled out of the parking lot and the horses just started falling out.”
The 11 remaining horses managed to make it through the incident alive — although authorities had to temporarily close down the highway in order to move the horses that had been hit, and locate all of the animals, who left the scene quickly.
In addition to corralling the horses stuck on the highway, two ponies were found at a nearby Hampton Inn & Suites, while a private citizen helped locate another two horses off of Highway 183, blocking the animals with his car.
Police in nearby Irving found additional ponies at Texas 183 and Highway 114. Irving police also corralled one horse at a nearby beverage distributor.
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By 8:05 a.m., the two deceased horses were removed from the highway, and authorities re-opened several lanes of traffic.
Within the hour, the owner was reunited with the remaining 11 ponies, traveling to all of the various locations where they were found in order to pick them up.
