Dangerous Pig Encounters Galvanize Community, Calif. DOT Responds

A rash of gruesome highway accidents has prompted the California Department of Transportation to approve one-of-a-kind "pig crossings."

1 minute read

February 28, 2004, 7:00 AM PST

By C. Scott Smith


"I've seen at least 20 dead ones out there, and one live one," said Vicki Odello, who drives the section of road daily to and from her Carmel Meadows home, located south of the hazardous stretch. "I'm sure there are hundreds of them out there." Odello's friend Kim Candler also had a swine sighting that left her mystified. While driving the stretch of road one evening, Candler and her husband saw a man trotting down the shoulder holding the rear hooves of a pig, wheelbarrow-style, in his hands. "We pulled alongside and said, 'What are you doing with the pig?' " Candler said. "He said, 'I'm going to take it home! Get it into my car!' It was Fellini-esque."Now highway warning signs featuring a large boar leading a piglet across a reflective yellow background will join the familiar leaping-deer, waddling duck family and bear silhouette in the pantheon of official Caltrans animal- warning signs posted around the state.

Thanks to C. Scott Smith

Monday, February 23, 2004 in The San Francisco Chronicle

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