Three horses died in a collision between a horse lorry and another HGV on the A303 near Thruxton in Hampshire yesterday (23 July).
Animal rescue specialists and fire crews from the Hampshire fire service managed to rescue 7 horses from the wreckage after the accident occured on the eastbound carriageway just before 4pm.
The lorry, which was believed to be carrying polo ponies, was turned onto its side.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
Animal rescue specialists worked with vets to sedate the horses before removing them one by one from the overturned vehicle.
One horse was killed in the intial collision and a further 2 had to put down at the scene.
Animal rescue specialist Jim Green, of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “This was one of the most difficult and challenging animal rescues we have been called to.
“Generally we get called to deal with the rescue of 1 animal so to deal with 10 horses in one incident was significant.
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“We quickly put a plan in place and our crews managed to cut away part of the back door of the trailer. We were able to corral each of the animals out of the trailer and triage them as they exited.”
The drivers of the 2 lorries were not seriously harmed in the incident.
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
The westbound carriageway re-opened later yesterday evening (23 July ) but the eastbound road remained closed overnight between Thruxton village and Sarsen and only reopened this morning (24 July).
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Sophia Heath joined Horse & Hound in July 2013 having previously worked for the Daily Telegraph's Olympics website, CNN International and Omnisport. A Durham graduate with a Masters in journalism from City University, Sophia has evented, showjumped and hunted. Sophia left Horse & Hound in early 2015 to join an international boating website.
