Mass of rancid chicken found in truck after Idaho driver abandoned vehicle

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/25/rancid-chicken-truck-montana

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An employee of an Idaho trucking company abandoned a semi-trailer containing thousands of pounds of frozen chicken at a western Montana truck stop after the company reportedly refused the driver’s repeated requests for more money, Missoula County officials said.

The 53-foot trailer, dripping the rancid juices of rotting chicken, was discovered Tuesday near the Flying J Truck Stop west of Missoula. It contained an estimated 37,000lbs of chicken worth $80,000, officials said.

The trucker reportedly texted Dixie River Freight Inc several times, saying he needed more money. When the company refused to pay him until he delivered the load, he apparently abandoned the trailer at the truck stop, police in Nampa, Idaho, said.

The trailer remained at the truck stop Thursday, surrounded by sawhorses, crime scene tape and flies as temperatures threatened to reach the 90-degree range for a second straight day.

Alisha Johnson with the Missoula City-County Health Department said Dixie River’s insurance company was in charge of cleaning up the mess — and it’s not a simple job.

It involves getting the landfill prepared to receive the load, Johnson told the Missoulian on Thursday. “They’ll probably have to dig a separate hole for this.”

“There’s a possibility of re-freezing the trailer, but that could make it harder to off-load if it’s frozen together,” she said.

Shannon Therriault, environmental health supervisor with the health department, said it would be nice to be able move it just once.

“People don’t want rotting chicken juice all over their cars if it’s transported down the highway or down the roadway. There are things that are in raw chicken that can make you sick, and we don’t want someone to incidentally get it on their hands and then ingest it,” Therriault told KECI-TV.

Police in Nampa are searching for the truck driver but had not released any information on him late Thursday morning.