A spill of frozen bull semen bound for a breeder in the state of Texas triggered a scare on Tuesday that temporarily shut down a U.S. interstate highway during the morning rush hour.
The incident began when the driver of a Greyhound bus carrying the freight alerted the fire department he had lost a part of his load while negotiating the ramp on a highway near Nashville.
“We didn’t know what it was, but we were told (the canisters) were non-toxic,” said Maggie Lawrence, a fire department spokeswoman.
Read Also
Klassen: Western Canadian calf markets surge on New World screwworm fears
For the week ending July 12, Western Canadian yearling markets traded steady to $5 higher compared to seven days earlier. Calves weighing 550-800 pounds were quoted $5 lower to as much as $10 higher.
When firefighters arrived on the ramp, they saw “four small propane-sized canisters (that) began to emit a light vapour,” Lawrence said.
In addition to the vapour, the canisters also let off an unpleasant odor and the ramp was closed while emergency personnel tried to determine what was in the containers.
The bus driver turned around to retrieve the canisters. Once emergency personnel learned the smoking canisters were nothing hazardous and that they simply contained frozen bull semen that had been stored on dry ice, Tennessee Department of Transportation and fire department workers cleared the ramp.
“It was no different to us than if a mattress fell off a truck,” said transportation spokeswoman B.J. Doughty.
