Highway 1 through Sicamous can be a busy place for volumes of traffic passing through. But all came to a screeching halt last week when a semi transport-trailer pulled out in front of a driver hauling a long stock trailer.
In that stock trailer were five horses.
Folks who saw the accident scene quickly came to the rescue. The animals were lead into a field where horse lovers took over. The horses were pastured out to farms nearby until the matter was cleared up.
Later, the driver pulling the trailer went online, thanking the local folks for all their help. The horses, probably with padded stalls in the trailer, were OK. Not so the sorrel mare being hauled to Kamloops from Vernon a few years back. In the parking lot of a large convenience store/bakery in Enderby, I noticed folks backing the horse out from its trailer. Blood was dripping from its forehead.
Pulling in with the SPCA van, I inquired about the injury. Startled by traffic the mare had raised her head, striking a welded cross bar above. The ladies in the bakery quickly provided a bucket of warm water, and I had towels and blankets we always carried in the van for such need, when animals are in distress. The mare was cleaned up, and they were soon on their way.
Read more: Driver and horses safe after serious collision in Sicamous
Read more: Driver, animals escape injury after collision near Sicamous
Read more: B.C. owner of horse that died of heart attack wants drivers to slow down
Another rollover accident involving horses last week near Joe Rich (Highway 33) tugged at the heartstrings. In this case, horses were injured, with a vet a long ways away.
Another incident involving a rutting 3-point whitetail deer had truckers and motorists slamming on their brakes near Sorrento, last fall. The buck was walking on the shoulder of the highway, checking out a does’ scent, when he crossed the in front of a blue Chevy van. The driver, not wanting to hit the animal, did a 90-degree turn, sending him over the bank left and down into the trees. Instantly, two transport drivers stopped. We stopped as the driver climbed the bank up onto the highway. The van was a write-off as the buck continued to search out his girlfriend.
A recent Ipsos poll stated Canadians are becoming concerned about a breakdown in society. In some ways our society has changed. But, for all the bad stuff we see and read about, we are still a very caring one, particularly when it comes to compassion to help one another on the road, at home, or on the farm with animals – especially horses.
@SalmonArm
newsroom@saobserver.net
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