Truck full of rotting chicken leaks liquid at Montana truck stop
MISSOULA, Mont. -- A truck dripping rancid juices from thousands of pounds of rotting chicken remains in the heat at a Montana truck stop after a failed ransom request.
It was abandoned there at least three days ago by a driver from Dixie River Freight, based in Nampa, Idaho, which reportedly it stolen about a month ago.
"The tractor trailer company was notified by the driver who took the truck, who said if you want this vehicle back... you're going to have to send me some money. So, essentially he was holding it for ransom," Missoula County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Paige Pavalone told CBS affiliate KPAX.
When the company refused, the driver parked the truck and took off.
The trailer holds about 37,000 pounds of formerly-frozen chicken, worth $80,000. The truck itself is worth another $65,000.
By Thursday, the truck was surrounded by sawhorses, crime scene tape and flies, as temperatures flirted with 90 degrees for a second-straight day. Health officials call it a potential bio-hazard.
"I think the biggest problem with where it is right now is that it can cause a nuisance, the odors can cause more and more of a nuisance," Missoula City-County Environmental Health Supervisor Shannon Therriault explained, adding that the leaking juices may contain bacteria like salmonella.
"People don't want rotting chicken juice all over their cars if it's transported down the highway or down the roadway," Therriault said. "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."
The trucking company's insurance provider is in charge of cleaning up the mess, and wants to keep the truck where it is until an investigation is complete.
Authorities are looking for the truck driver, but haven't issued warrants for his arrest.
"It's very unusual, we take reports of recovered stolen vehicles and recovered property quite often but never in this magnitude," Pavalone said.