Opinion: Dodge County crash that resulted in the deaths of 43 pigs wasn’t just an accident

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In late March, a truck carrying 127 cows rolled over on an Indiana highway, leaving two animals dead, as a state police sergeant said such accidents are not uncommon. Just one month later, a similar incident played out on a highway in Dodge County, Minn., and 43 pigs were euthanized on site while around 127 others were moved onto another truck. The relentless wheels of profit-driven factory farming kept turning because they don’t stop for anyone.

The number of animals lost in these recent incidents is heartbreaking, but sadly, these cases are not isolated. It is because of the recklessness inherent in intensive animal agriculture that dozens of animals are crowded into a truck in the first place.

If you are on one of our nation’s busy highways when a transport truck passes by, you may see a young pig or calf, likely one of many inside, sticking their nose out of one of the small holes that allow air to pass through. The sight may remind you of a dog enjoying the breeze from their car window, but sadly, it could be the only time that farm animal has felt fresh air and sunshine — and the moment may have come on their final day of life, whether they make it to the slaughterhouse or not.

In 2006, a Farm Sanctuary report examined 233 incidents that occurred over six years on highways in 44 states, finding at least 27,000 animals killed and many more hurt. Like the recent accidents in Indiana and Minnesota, more than half of those in our report involved a single vehicle rolling over. A 2007 analysis by authors including Temple Grandin cited driver fatigue as the likely cause of many accidents involving transport trucks, which are often driven throughout the night and early morning.

Some animals tumble from fast-moving trucks because they were not properly secured. Others may jump. While some die from the impact of their fall or later succumb to their injuries, others are struck by vehicles or intentionally killed by law enforcement in an attempt to prevent traffic collisions — because these situations present danger for humans on the road, too.

Even when accidents do not occur, animals may become “downed” (too sick, weak or injured to stand) or die due to the conditions faced inside transport vehicles, often traveling without food or water, across long distances and through harsh weather conditions.

According to a 2022 investigation by the Guardian, more than 20 million U.S. farmed animals die in transport each year, a figure that had likely increased due to the rising frequency and intensity of transport. Many animals, including 800,000 pigs, are downed upon arrival at slaughter plants. In 2024, Investigate Midwest came to a similar conclusion for the following year: 20.3 million animals died en route to a slaughterhouse, with chickens (the animal farmed in the highest numbers) accounting for 19.8 million of those deaths.

Despite the scale of farmed animal transport throughout the country and the fact that animals like cattle raised for meat may be transported multiple times in their lives, few relevant legal protections exist. The federal Twenty-Eight Hour Law is virtually unenforced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is supposed to report violations of the law to the Department of Justice — and the legislation mandates only that, if animals are being transported for a period longer than 28 hours, they are offered food, water and rest for five hours. Furthermore, billions of animals are excluded from this basic protection, such as the 9 billion birds raised in the U.S. each year, those transported by air or sea, and all animals not transported directly to a slaughter facility.

For decades, Farm Sanctuary has advocated for meaningful policy change to combat the abuses of factory farming and reduce farm animal suffering. In 1991, these efforts brought us to the South St. Paul Stockyard, where nearly 1,000 people attended an unprecedented demonstration that drew national attention and successfully persuaded the United Stockyards Corp. to stop accepting downed animals brought to any of its locations.

The introduction of the Humane Transport of Farmed Animals Act in 2024 was an encouraging step toward policy change that would protect animals and public health alike. As the bill’s sponsor, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, said, “Not only do lax federal regulations on farm animal transportation create inhumane and cruel conditions, but these inefficiencies in the law are also causing many animals to succumb to disease and injury during these long journeys which can be passed on to humans.”

As our nation faces a growing threat from highly pathogenic bird flu, it is more important than ever to consider the risks to public health as well as the immense animal suffering for all farm animals involved in transport for factory farming. In 2024, the New York Times reported on the pathogen’s spread among dairy farms hundreds of miles apart. “The virus did not traverse those distances on its own. Instead, it hitched a ride with its hosts, the cows, moving into new states as cattle were transported from the outbreak’s epicenter to farms across the country.”

If it had passed, the Humane Transport of Farmed Animals Act would have strengthened monitoring for compliance with The Twenty-Eight Hour Law, broadened the definition of animals “unfit” to travel, and prohibited the transport of those animals. Similar legislation must be enacted to begin addressing the anguish faced by billions of animals in transport each year —because the relentless wheels of factory farming will keep turning, no matter who falls beneath them.

Gene Baur is president and cofounder of Farm Sanctuary, the world’s premier farm animal sanctuary and advocacy organization, and author of the books “Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds About Animals and Food” and “Living the Farm Sanctuary Life.”