Updated Monday, Jan. 19 – 9:27 a.m.
A mule that got out of its pen was struck by a car on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu today, and a veterinarian later euthanized the injured animal.
The mule got loose about 6:40 a.m. and was struck on eastbound Pacific Coast Highway near Heathercliff Road, said sheriff’s Deputy Sammy Jones of the Malibu-Lost Hills Station.
The driver was uninjured, but the mule was seriously hurt, prompting authorities to close the right-most eastbound lane.
County animal control officials, including a veterinarian, were sent to tend to the mule, which lay in the road and eventually went into shock, according to witnesses. About 9 a.m., a veterinarian decided to euthanize the animal, which was later put on a truck and taken away.
It was unclear who owned the mule.
The driver was headed into the rising sun when the accident occurred. Traffic, disrupted for about two hours, was relatively light because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
