A cattle truck full of cows was abandoned in Kaukapakapa on Wednesday, leaving the animals trapped inside in 25degC heat.
Photos of the truck were posted to the Kaukapakapa community Facebook page, showing it parked outside the town hall, which is situated on Kaipara Coast Highway, SH16.
"Over half an hour ago, a truck pulled in and unhitched this trailer and left," wrote the person who posted the photos. "It's full of cows.
"It's boiling hot and they are crashing around in there."
Locals made attempts to hose down the truck in the hopes of cooling down the trapped animals, with some trying to access the equipment at the nearby fire station and others bringing their own hoses.
The temperature in Kaukapakapa, a town in the Rodney district of the North Island, is currently 25degC.
The two-storey cattle truck was headed to the meat works. The truck driver reportedly unhitched the trailer containing the cattle outside the hall and left to pick up more cattle, which is standard practice.
But he failed to return to pick up the cattle, and at the time of writing had still not arrived.
A Coatesville local told Newshub she had heard a vet had arrived on the scene - two and a half hours after the truck was abandoned - and that the animals were apparently unharmed.
Newshub.
