BY JANE MEGGITT
Staff Writer
UPPER FREEHOLD — Eleven sheep and five goats are now romping in a local pasture, thanks to the rescue efforts of Animal Control Officer Mary Klink.
It was 10:30 p.m. Nov. 11 when Klink got a call about the carnage on a Washington Township section of the New Jersey Turnpike.
Though once an independent animal control contractor, Klink had been hired by Upper Freehold as part of an interlocal agreement the town has with several municipalities, including Washington Township.
Klink said the accident occurred when a tractor-trailer rear-ended a box truck carrying 45 sheep and goats from a local livestock auction. The impact sent the truck off the road and into a tree, where it overturned.
The animals, which were on their way to Webster Live Chicken, a slaughterhouse in The Bronx, N.Y., were loose on the turnpike, where many of them, according to the officer, were hit by oncoming traffic. Twenty-five died on the road.
“It was horrible,” recalled Klink. “I never saw anything like that.”
She said that although there were animal parts everywhere, and more loose goats and sheep, “people kept zooming.” The presence of a state trooper’s car with flashing lights did not even cause drivers to stop or slow down, she said.
Many times, she added, a situation sounds worse than it actually is, but not in this case.
Klink said she asked turnpike personnel to bring her some snow fencing, with which she made a mini-corral for the animals. It was 4 a.m. before they had rounded up all the surviving animals, which Klink loaded into her 24-foot stock trailer.
A goat and two sheep were immediately brought to Dr. Robert Cohen in Freehold, where they had to be euthanized due to the severity of their injuries. Later on, the veterinarian treated the rest of the herd, giving the animals antibiotics and dressing their wounds.
The 11 survivors are currently under Klink’s care at her farm in Upper Freehold. While their fates are still uncertain, Klink hopes that after all they have been through, they will be adopted as pets instead of being sent to the slaughterhouse. The sheep are Dorsett and blackface, and the goats are Nubians. Klink said some are also pregnant.
After about two months, the majority of the herd is doing well, but a few older sheep still have problems.
Klink said that Farm Sanctuary, a refuge in Watkins Glen, N.Y., for animals intended for slaughter, called to offer help. She said that various people have donated money toward the animals’ care, and that Englishtown Agway donated feed for the sheep and goats.
Klink made efforts to contact the driver of the box truck, who owns the animals. Though he had sent some money, it is not enough to cover the animals’ medical bills.
As part of the interlocal agreement, Washington Township would be liable for the outstanding expenses, according to Klink, who hopes the driver will surrender the animals so they can be adopted out to people who wish to keep them as pets.
“We’ll check references,” she said, “so they’re not sold for meat.”