Indiana drivers had a rough Friday morning commute, and not just because of the usual coffee-spill-on-the-shirt kind of rough. U.S. 33 in both directions near Churubusco came to a standstill after a Waste Management truck veered into a ditch around 8:20 a.m. And what it was hauling made this anything but a routine fender-bender situation.
The truck, traveling through the 6000 block of North U.S. 33, was transporting dead ducks from several Maple Leaf Duck Farms facilities across northern Indiana. The birds had been infected with avian influenza, otherwise known as bird flu.
So yes — this was a highway shutdown involving a ditch, a garbage truck, and a pile of disease-carrying ducks. Indiana, you’re truly something else.
A 100-Foot Perimeter, a Cleanup Crew, and a Lot of Rubber Neckers Who Had to Keep Moving
Authorities were quick to reassure the public that there was no known threat to human health, but they weren’t exactly leaving things to chance either. A 100-foot safety perimeter was established around the crash site faster than you can say “avian influenza outbreak.” Officials from Waste Management, Maple Leaf Farms, and the Indiana Board of Animal Health joined forces to safely extract the birds and get the scene under control.
A specialized cleanup team was brought in specifically because of the nature of the cargo — because, as it turns out, you can’t just scoop up a truck full of bird flu ducks with a standard broom and call it a day. Residents and drivers in the area were urged to give the scene a wide berth throughout the entirety of Friday.
For car enthusiasts who had been hoping to rubberneck at what they imagined would be an impressive wreck — sorry, folks. No exotic sports cars were harmed in this incident. Just a garbage truck, a ditch, and several hundred ducks that had already had a very bad week before any of this happened.
The road has since been cleared, the ducks have been removed, and Churubusco can presumably go back to being a quiet stretch of northern Indiana highway.
Until next time.