Police herd 900 chicks to safety after they were dumped on highway

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State and local law enforcement in Lower Swatara Township, Pennsylvania, teamed up to rescue 900 peeps from a state highway early Wednesday morning.

At 4:52 a.m., state troopers were dispatched to Route 283 W. at North Union Street after receiving a report of a crate on the roadway which was causing a hazard for drivers.

Lower Swatara police assisted Pennsylvania State Police in herding the 900 chicks off the highway and back into their crates, and the department later posted images of the incident to Facebook, writing, “It was our pleasure to assist PSP last evening with an animal rescue. Several hundred baby chickens (peeps) were running around the highway where they should not have been.”

How the chicks ended up on the highway is a mystery, according to Megan Frazer, spokesperson for the PSP, but the troopers and officers were able to wrangle about 900 of them back into the safety of their crates.

“The picture does not do it justice, but it will give you an idea of the challenge they faced,” the Lower Swatara PD’s Facebook post reads. “Great job to the officers involved!”