031204 Escaped Cattle Go to Their Fate at Tyson

Amarillo, TX - About three dozen heifers that survived a cattle truck crash Tuesday could not avoid their date with destiny.

"They're hamburger now," said Jep Harrison, live cattle manager at Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., where the surviving cattle were taken.

Actually, the heifers won't be hamburger, steak or beef ribs for a few more days. They were slaughtered by Wednesday but the meat won't be graded and processed for several days, Harrison said.

The wreck occurred just after 5 p.m. Tuesday when a pickup driven south by Franklin George McNabb, 36, of Amarillo crossed a grassy median into northbound traffic in the 6400 block of I-27. McNabb's truck struck the cattle truck, and another pickup and rolled several times, according to an Amarillo Police Department accident report.

McNabb suffered severe injuries and went to Northwest Texas Hospital for treatment.

The other drivers involved were not injured, but about seven cattle out of a load of 42 either died or were put down and 15 fled into nearby neighborhoods.

On Wednesday, Harrison and five cowboys finished loading the escaped cattle that spent the night penned up behind three businesses near the wreck, Harrison said.

Within an hour of Tuesday's cattle truck wreck, loose heifers were implicated in two other wrecks - one in the 6300 block of Hyde Parkway and one in the 6300 block of Bell Street, according to APD accident reports. No one was injured.

On Tuesday, police officers shot several cows after they ran into traffic.

Amarillo Police Department Sgt. Randy TenBrink said officers acted as safely as possible and fired only because the cattle were creating a serious hazard.

"Cows don't obey hand signals or traffic cones," he said.

But Butch Meyer, who owns a nearby business and raises cattle, said the shootings would have been unnecessary if the cattle had been handled properly.

Meyer said officers and volunteers made a valiant but misguided effort while trying to round up the cattle Tuesday. He said some deputies spooked otherwise docile heifers by using lights and sirens.

"Cattle are hard to control anyway, especially when they get excited," Meyer said. "They had 'em pretty well contained until everybody just lost their mind."

Meyer said he collared four of the fleeing animals by slowly herding them with his truck and on foot into a fenced yard in the Estacado neighborhood.

The homeowners were not there, Meyer said, but likely found evidence later that their yard had served as a temporary corral.

"They got their driveway pretty well fertilized," Meyer said.

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