A single vehicle accident Tuesday morning on Highway 46 near Candler County turned into an impromptu rodeo when state troopers had to release a dozen cattle from a stock trailer in danger of burning. 

Steven Wilds, 55, was driving a Ford F250 on 46 in Bulloch County. He was pulling a loaded gooseneck stock trailer when, for an unknown reason, he left the roadway and ran into a tree, said Georgia State Patrol Post 45 Trooper First Class Keith McCarty.

The accident took place just before 9 a.m. 

The truck caught fire and completely burned, McCarty said. Wilds and three juvenile passengers escaped with superficial cuts and injuries.

The flames threatened the stock trailer, so troopers turned the cattle loose, he said. 

Freedom for the bovines was short lived, however.

“A group of nice people from Metter with some horses and trailers” rounded up the cattle and took them to a safe location, McCarty said. No cattle were injured.

There were no charges in the accident.