A group of people came together to help get cattle back in their respective place after a vehicle carrying them crashed on Highway 78.
A semi-truck carrying cattle overturned near Murphy, Idaho around 3 p.m. Monday. The Owyhee County Sheriffs' Office said the driver lost control, crashed and blocked both lanes of the highway — all with cattle trapped inside.
Sam Zaragoza was the first on the scene and saw the event unfold:
"I actually live down the road and I see the truck tip over and then I came up the road to see if I could help out," Zaragoza said. "And when I got here is when I see the cows on the road and I tried to herd them to one side. It was sliding down the hill like a mudslide. I didn't really see it because of the dust cloud around it so I couldn't really tell what happened until I got here. The truck driver and two gentlemen standing up on that hill here. Nobody knew what to do."
Around 3 pm today... A semi-Truck carrying cattle crashes near Murphy, Idaho on Highway 77... Both lanes blocked. People came out to help. @IdahoNews6 pic.twitter.com/n0r7pjbM6w
— Doug Lock-Smith (@DouglasRandel) June 1, 2021
Zaragoza had experience herding cattle and jumped in to help, along with several others.
"It was a stunned moment. You could feel it. For me, it feels natural. I've done this growing up. I've helped with cow herding. I've worked for Simplot for a bit. For me, it's easy to get the cows in a circle. Working with the different components the people here are actually helping out quite a bit. It's kind of awesome to see people come to together in a situation like this. I have seen other situations similar wear all you see is cowboys and nobody else. They're just driving past. So, to see everyone pull together was pretty awesome to watch."
Because of the nature of the crash, some cattle could not be saved. The surviving herd was loaded on another truck and the crash is under investigation. The drive of the semi-truck was transported to the hospital.
