Before dawn on Sunday, October 18, a truck hauling roughly 120 to 130 cows flipped on Interstate 70 in Kansas City, Missouri, and dropped from the overpass onto Interstate 35, hitting another vehicle. Both drivers were taken to the hospital. Somewhere between 45 and 60 cows were killed, according to estimates.

The cows that lived ran loose into traffic and nearby neighborhoods, and some wandered miles away. Fire crews used drones to find them, and officials said many were hurt. Police believed every surviving animal had been found by that afternoon. Still, there has been no public word on how badly they were injured, whether they got care, or where they were taken.

Every day, trucks carry cattle, pigs, and other farm animals across the country, often for many hours at a time. The main federal law covering those trips, the Twenty-Eight Hour Law, was first passed in the 1800s. It requires animals to be unloaded for food, water, and rest after 28 hours on the road. It says little about crowding, extreme weather, driver training, or what should happen to injured animals after a crash.

Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have the power to change that. Congress can update the law with modern standards for how farm animals are loaded, housed, and handled in transit. The USDA can make sure those rules are actually enforced, including clear plans for emergency veterinary care when a livestock truck crashes. Farmers, truck drivers, first responders, and animal lovers all benefit when animals arrive safely and highways stay safer.

Sign the petition to ask Congress and the USDA to modernize farm animal transport protections now, before another crash leaves dozens of animals dead on the highway.