Cows cause two-truck crash on Ontario highway; calves were headed to St. Catharines

A Montreal man faces charges after an unsafe load of dairy cows en route to St. Catharines was dropped onto Highway 401 in eastern Ontario, causing a crash between two tractor-trailers.

Ontario Provincial Police said the driver of a small crossover-type vehicle was hauling “an insecure load” of eight calves using a homemade trailer on Friday morning just after 7 a.m.

The vehicle and cattle were in the westbound lanes near Joyceville Road, east of Kingston, when the mishap occurred.

“The trailer was not sufficient to haul the load of cattle and broke apart while travelling west” on Highway 401, police said in a news release on Monday. “The cattle spilled out onto the highway and incurred injuries, requiring a veterinarian to attend and assess them.”

Multiple westbound vehicles swerved to avoid the dairy calves and trailer, with two tractor-trailers colliding as a result, police added. They didn’t say if the drivers of the large trucks were injured.

An inspector with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was also called to the scene to help police officers remove the cattle from the highway.

Police said the calves were being transported from Montreal to St. Catharines at the time of the incident, which partially closed the highway for five hours.

The cattle have been seized as the agency’s investigation continues, police said.

The driver of the vehicle, a 25-year-old Montreal man, is charged with operate unsafe vehicle, fail to surrender licence and draw trailer without plate.

He’s scheduled to appear in Kingston court on Dec. 9.