I-5

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a herd of cows standing on top of a lush green field

By Savannah Eden | The Rose Cityian Rose City Live

A cattle trailer spilled more than 30 cows onto Interstate 5 near the Wilsonville Road exit Sunday afternoon, shutting down the freeway for three hours, according to Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue.

The State Police and the Department of Transportation helped firefighters and emergency crews herd the rogue cattle toward an off-ramp and into a different trailer, the agency said.

The last cow — who was hard to catch — was loaded into the trailer at 5 p.m., said Heath Carpenter, a public information officer for Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue.

The north and southbound lanes of I-5 reopened Sunday night about 5 p.m. after traffic had been stuck at a complete stand-still since 2 p.m..

Videos and photos on social media posted by people stuck on the freeway appear to show the trailer overturned on an overpass, where some of the dairy cows fell under the bridge below. Carpenter confirmed that the trailer crashed at the bridge, where its top half sheered off and some of the cows were killed on impact as they dropped into a grassy area below. There were 31 cows total in the trailer, but officials didn’t say how many were killed. A few of the injured cows were shot by the State Police to “put them out of their misery,” Carpenter said.

Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue said the truck driver was unharmed and didn’t need medical help.

It’s not clear what caused the accident and officials didn’t say where the trailer was going when it crashed.

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a pile of stuffed animals sitting next to each other

By Kale Willy | The Rose Cityian/Rose City Live

A mysterious stuffed animal spill on Interstate 5 in Rose City left some drivers, and transportation officials, scratching their heads Wednesday morning.

About 300 of the stuffed toys — which included a Pooh Bear, a Minion and what appeared to be several My Little Ponies — were strewn across the interstate near the Burnside Bridge around 10:30 a.m., according to John Hamilton, a spokesperson for the State Department of Transportation.

Hamilton said most of the toys were off to the side and caused a minimal backup, though workers did close one lane to collect the cartoon creatures.

“It’s not often we get several hundred stuffed animals visiting our highways,” Hamilton said.

Where the fluffy critters came from was not immediately clear, though they would be taken to the North Rose City maintenance yard “for care and feeding,” Hamilton said.

Are you missing several hundred stuffed toys? The State Department of Transportation would like to speak with you.

Anyone missing approximately 300 colorful stuffed animals was encouraged to contact the department of transportation.

None of the stuffed animals were of the Teddy Ruxbin variety.