Recipe for "Goat Suprise": Take one layer of goats, add steel support beams, add another layer of goats...
Two hundred and forty-three goats were crushed to death this morning after the livestock truck they were riding in flipped while making a tight turn in San Rafael, authorities said.
The goats, part of a herd used for vegetation management, died inside the four-tier truck trailer after it collapsed around 8:45 a.m. on Kerner Boulevard at Irene Street.
The cause of the crash was being investigated. The 62-year-old truck driver and a passenger were not injured.
The goats were the property of Goats R Us, an Orinda company that rents out the herd to public and private agencies seeking to control overgrowth and reduce fire danger.
About 150 goats survived the crash and were taken to their new job site in Mill Valley, where they had been heading at the time of the accident.
Two goats were injured and were being treated at the Marin Humane Society in Novato, according to spokeswoman Sheri Cardo. One of them suffered severe spinal injuries and was being evaluated by a team of veterinarians.
Cardo said so many goats died because the internal structure of the metal pens and dividers inside the trailer fell apart in the crash.
"It was a domino effect,'' she said. "Goats and metal bars and goats and metal bars, all on top of each other.''
A bystander who was helping to rescue the goats after the crash was treated for minor injuries after he was struck in the head by a metal door on the truck trailer, police said.
In May, 15 kids belonging to a different East Bay goat herding company were shot and killed by an unknown suspect at King Estates Recreation Area in the Oakland hills.
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