Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 10, 1991                   TAG: 9104100198
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON AND MELANIE S. HATTER/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SHOCK TREATMENT/ VET STUDENTS HAPPEN UPON TRAFFIC CRASH AND USE THEIR TRAININ

Among the first to arrive on the scene were a veterinarian and four Virginia Tech veterinary students who were on their way to examine a sick cow in Pembroke.

The veterinarian and the students moved the injured steer from the middle of the road to a roadside ditch where they treated and tried to comfort the animal.

The veterinarian, Dr. Kevin Pelzer, said the steer appeared to have a concussion, judging from the loss of blood from its nose and other symptoms. It was not expected to live.

"Just his sense about where he is and all . . . the trucks going by and stuff, a normal animal would be pretty upset with that," Pelzer said.

The group administered intravenous fluids while waiting for the steer's owner, Carl Polan of Longshop, to get the animal, which was about 8 months old and weighed about 500 pounds.

Pelzer said he hoped they could keep the steer alive long enough for Polan to have it slaughtered.

"It's upsetting that something like this happened, but it's not anything you could've done anything about," he said.

But he said it was good experience for the vet school students.

"This was something that was definitely unexpected," said Geof Ruppert, a senior at the veterinary school. "Shock therapy is something they do teach us in school, but not usually in large animals like this, usually just in dogs and cats.

"It gave us a chance to apply what we've learned."

According to witnesses and state police, the flatbed truck was sideswiped by a passing truck hauling a double-wide mobile home about 11 a.m.

"I didn't even know it till it hooked into the back of me," said Lee Price, who was taking the cattle to a livestock auction in Narrows.

He said he was traveling west about 35 mph and ran off the right side of the road into an embankment. The impact shattered the wooden enclosure holding the cattle. He didn't know how the fast the trailer was going.

State police said an investigation into the accident is continuing.

Three of the cattle escaped injury and wandered away from the accident. Polan said two of them had been spotted nearby at Pandapas Pond.

"We know where they are if we can just round them up," he said.

The third steer had not been located.