Yet another barn fire has killed thousands of animals. CBS
Minnesota reports that a hog farm in southern Minnesota caught fire this
week, killing around 4,000 sows, and between 6,000 and 7,000 piglets.
According to the CBS affiliate, “Roughly 50 percent of the
hog farm was destroyed by the fire, that took the help of 10 responding
agencies from across Martin County to get under control.
This factory farm is owned by Pipestone System, a company
that came under fire after a Mercy For Animals undercover investigation
documented horrific animal abuse.
During the investigation, workers were caught violently
slamming conscious piglets headfirst against the ground, ripping off their
tails and testicles without painkillers, hitting, throwing, and dropping pigs
and piglets, and confining pregnant pigs in filthy, fly-infested gestation
crates barely larger than their own bodies for nearly their entire lives.
And to make matters worse, when pressed to add sprinklers to
the requirements for facilities like this, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC)
fought tooth and nail against it.
According to the National
Fire Protection Organization, the chief environmental counsel for the NPPC “argues
sprinkler installation costs would serve as an added burden to pork farmers.
Since their barns are typically metal with concrete floors — facilities where
fires are rare. … [R]equiring sprinkler protection might not justify the actual
fire risk.
With tens of thousands of animals being burned alive each
year, it’s obvious that factory farmers’ top priority is money, not animal
welfare. As long as that is the case, animals will pay the price with their
lives.
To withdraw your support from an industry that treats
animals like objects, get your FREE Vegetarian
Starter Guide here.