This is the horrifying moment a cow fell off the back of a moving lorry and into live traffic on a busy motorway.
The animal fell onto the inside lane near junction nine in the northwest of England, nearly colliding with oncoming cars travelling at 70mph, just before 10 am yesterday.
Police say another cow also broke free two miles away, and the motorway was closed for about 90 minutes between junctions seven and 10.
The Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG) said on Twitter the cows were injured, although the extent of the injuries was unclear.
Dashcam footage of the incident shows the cow falling onto the road and skidding towards oncoming traffic, forcing motorists to take evasive action and ultimately causing one lorry to stop in the middle of the motorway.
Kevin Rogers, 52, who documented the footage from his vehicle, was on his way to an auction when the bizarre incident unfolded in front of him.
He said that the cow fell out the bottom of the lorry, the lorry next to it moved and he moved out of the way.
He said he was the first car coming head-on to it and he managed to miss it.
He said that there was definitely only one cow that fell out of the lorry but reports read that there were two cows and that he thought the floor gave way on the bottom and when the lorry pulled over another cow came out.
He said that you don't see that every day and that his first thought was not to hit it and that he didn't see it fall out of the lorry so the first he saw was the cow sprawling on the road, and that thankfully he could swerve onto the hard shoulder to get around it.
The CMPG said on Twitter initially: 'CLOSED. M6 junction 10 to junction 7 was closed. Further updates will follow. Please avoid the area where possible.
They said that they had two injured cows on the carriageway two miles apart that had fallen from a lorry.
A follow-up tweet then said: 'Big thank you to the lorry drivers who stopped to help contain the cows as well as @HighwaysWMIDS @Trafficwmp @firearmsWMP'.
'Big thank you to Whitewell Logistics Ltd who was in the trapped traffic and offered to help move the cows off the carriageway.
However, it's extremely heartbreaking for the poor animals.
It broke my heart, not only was this animal subjected to a terrifying ordeal, no doubt experiencing pain as a consequence, it was also likely on the way to the slaughterhouse.
This is cruelty to animals that were clearly being transported in an inadequate vehicle which sounds as though it shouldn't have been on the road, and the company should at least be fined.
This incident could have been much worse, particularly if that stretch of motorway didn't have a hard shoulder. Hitting an animal this size at 60mph would have been like hitting a brick wall, which would have inevitably caused a multiple pile-up and no doubt human casualties.
This was so wrong on many different levels. The sheer terror and pain the poor animals would have felt whilst falling out of the moving lorry at that speed, and whoever was responsible for this needs prosecuting. No doubt people will just read this and not think twice about it because it happened to a cow, but it is a big deal, and it makes me sad and furious that animals' lives are worth so little. But, of course, this is just my opinion.
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