Friede said county health officials visited the truck stop on Wednesday searching for a way to discard the rotting carcasses.

“They’re dripping all over the ground,” Friede said. “It’s turning colors out there. I didn’t know chicken was red.”

Shannon Therriault, environmental health supervisor with the Missoula County Health Department, said deputies notified her office of the problem on Tuesday.

A county sanitarian inspected the truck while the Health Department contacted Dixie River’s insurance company, along with Republic Services of Missoula, to find a solution.

“We’re typically involved in truck wrecks, making sure compromised food is discarded and doesn’t enter the food chain,” Therriault said. “Obviously, this chicken isn’t going to get used at this point, but the question is what needs to happen to dispose of it safely.”

Therriault said a number of issues need to be resolved. The insurance company must decide if the trailer can be cleaned for future food transport, or if it’s a total loss.

Sanitation officials will also decide if the truck can be wrapped and moved to the dump for unloading, or if the contents need to be unloaded into a leak-proof container on site.