• Animal rights advocates are demanding that the survivors from a horrific cattle truck crash that happened last night in South Yarra be released into the care of an animal sanctuary.
• The truck crashed into the Cremorne Railway Bridge over Alexandra Avenue, South Yarra at around 8.30pm last night. It was carrying dairy cows and calves, presumably on their way to be slaughtered.
• Advocacy group Farm Transparency Project attended the site to document the crash and are now calling for the surviving cows to be released to an animal sanctuary. 

Animal rights campaigners from Farm Transparency Project are calling for the survivors of a horrific cattle truck crash in South Yarra last night to be released to an animal sanctuary, rather than sent to slaughter. 

Investigators from the organisation attended the scene of the crash last night, documenting cows attempting to free themselves from the wreckage of the truck as well as cows being shot with tranquiliser guns and euthanised due to severe injuries gained from leaping from the top sections of the truck, which were completely crushed on impact. 

Farm Transparency Project spokesperson, Chris Delforce, says that a crowd of concerned citizens gathered at the site last night, with many offering transport and homes for surviving cows. Yet, despite these offers, police refused to pass on contact details to the owners of the dairy cows and calves and issued a move on order to the crowd just before 1am, forcing them to leave the area. 

"The level of pain and fear these cows would have experienced during this crash is unimaginable, and must only have increased as they remained trapped in the wreckage as other cows were shot with bolt guns around them. The least that they deserve is to be given a chance to live out the rest of their lives in peace, rather than being sent to the slaughterhouse.” 

"These cows deserve sanctuary, not slaughter."

Concerned citizens have been attempting to contact Agriculture Victoria today to discover what has happened to the cows who were removed from the truck. At around 10am an Ag Vic spokesperson informed a caller that:

"Some of the cows were 'humanely euthanised' on site & the rest have been transported to a 'holding facility' for further assessment."

When asked whether the holding facility was a slaughterhouse the representative declined to comment.

Photos and footage: https://www.farmtransparency.org/campaigns/cows-killed-horrific-melbourne-truck-crash (more available later today, or on request)