Why did the turkeys cross the road? Because of a trailer emergency avoidance system.
Stratford emergency services responded to a unique call on Wednesday afternoon, when a truck spilled turkey carcasses across all four lanes of Hwy 7/8.
Crews were called to Ontario Street and Road 111 around 4:30 p.m.
"A large tandem tractor trailer was hauling turkey remnants — about 14 tonnes of them — to a rendering plant, travelling eastbound," said Stratford Fire Chief Neal Anderson. "It was cut off by another vehicle so the trailer emergency avoidance system activated and locked up the braking system. This caused tons of turkey remnants and fluid to slosh in the front trailer and a lot of it overflowed out of the trailer and covered all four lanes of traffic."
Stratford Police didn't lay any charges in connection to the matter.
Anderson said the cleanup was quick and handled by the company.
"We sprayed off the tractor portion of the truck so he could continue with his delivery without tracking the mess and fluid further down the highway," he said. "We remained on scene until the company's contracted cleanup vacuum truck arrived and that removed the spilled materials. Then we were back in the station around 5:35 p.m."
The road has been cleared, but there's no word yet on whether the smell still lingers.
Rather than residents being put off turkey ahead of Easter weekend, Anderson thinks there's a different lesson to be learned.
"Honestly, it's more reason to be respectable of larger vehicles and give them a wider berth," he said. "This wouldn't have happened if the car didn't cut off the tractor-trailer. It could have been much worse if it was a different hazardous material that was being carried."
