By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

EFFINGHAM, Ill. — As immediate first responders, Illinois State Police (ISP) troopers are trained to assist in all manner of roadside emergencies – now, including pig wrangling.

For the second time in less than a month, ISP personnel have been summoned to Illinois interstate highways to rescue wayward livestock after unrelated accidents involving semi trucks transporting pigs. The latest occurrence was March 22, when a semi trailer reportedly loaded with as many as 3,000 piglets rolled into a ditch on Interstate 70 near Casey in southeastern Illinois.

Approximately 100 of the animals died from the impact of the ditching, but hundreds of others enjoyed brief glimpses of freedom until members of the District 12 ISP in Effingham sprang into action, taking it upon themselves to corral the surviving swine with help from other first responders and volunteers.

Their extra effort helped to slow, but not delay, traffic on the busy interstate for only about three hours, according to an ISP District 12 public information officer.

“In this instance we were lucky to have a large transport vehicle available in the area that the owner was able to get to the scene really quick,” said Trooper William Fritchley, who was the officer in charge of the wreck. “Everyone helped load them as quickly as they could to help reduce the stress on the animals.”

A photo posted on the District 12 ISP Facebook page depicted troopers rescuing the pigs and carrying them to an awaiting trailer. Fritchley defended the manner in which the troopers were handling the piglets, which he said drew some social media criticism from self-described animal lovers.

“People didn’t like that we held the pigs by the legs, but have you ever tried to hug a pig? Pigs are generally much calmer when they are held that way,” he said.

In addition, some people have questioned how many pigs can be legally hauled in semi trailer on a federal highway; however, the practice of hauling this number of piglets is common, Fritchley confirmed.

“We don’t have any specifics on exactly how many pigs the (Illinois) vehicle was carrying at the time of the accident,” he explained, “but they can hold between 2,300 and 2,900 piglets on a truck like that.”

In confirmation, a quick Web search reveals that in October 2018 a semi carrying about 2,500 piglets slid off the I-75 ramp near Dayton, Ohio. In 2017, some 2,300 12- to 20-pound piglets were being transported when a tractor-trailer ditched on a West Virginia interstate.

The ISP refused to identify where the pigs involved in the I-70 accident had originated from, where they were heading, or who owned the pigs or the truck used to transport them, citing a department confidentiality policy that grants public anonymity to those involved in property damage accidents. Pigs, Fritchley said, are considered personal property.

However, Farm World learned the piglets are owned by Tyson Foods and were en route to a farm in Indiana. A Tyson spokesperson declined to comment for this article, but said the truck was operated in compliance with all laws and regulations. The truck’s driver, also not named by the ISP, had reportedly fallen ill shortly before the rollover. He was nonetheless cited for improper lane usage, according to news reports.

The accident comes on the tail of another recent swine spill assisted by ISP troopers. On March 1 (which happened to be National Pig Day) a semi rolled over while merging onto northbound I-57 near Champaign, dumping its load of 178 pigs and shutting down part of the freeway. Similarly, state troopers had risked their own safety to assist Illinois farmers despite dangerous roadside conditions.

(Since Jan. 1, 15 ISP vehicles have been struck by motorists when pulled over to respond to highway incidents with their emergency lights activated, resulting in the deaths of two troopers. On March 28, Trooper Brooke Jones-Story was struck and killed by a truck alongside U.S. Highway 20 near Freeport. Earlier in March, Trooper Christopher Lambert was killed in a similar roadside incident.)

These accidents, which numbered only eight in all of 2018, are on the rise despite strict “Scott’s Law” rules in Illinois that require motorists to switch lanes when approaching emergency vehicles and stranded motorists displaying emergency flashing signals on four-lane highways.

“Our state troopers are putting their lives on the line every day,” Gov. JB Pritzker noted in a March 25 statement urging motorists to slow down and move over. “They are our heroes and first responders. No driver needs to get to their destination so quickly that they need to put a trooper’s life at risk.”