United States-Farm fire kills 3,000 pigs.
UNITED STATES-3,000 PIGS KILLED IN FARM FIRE.
Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, today issued a statement regarding the fire that killed an estimated 2800 sows and thousands of piglets at a hog confinement facility in Schuyler County, Illinois this week. The second major fire at a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) in three weeks in the Midwest prompts Farm Sanctuary to urge passage of Illinois Senate Bill 1337 that would ban the use of gestation crates for breeding sows in the state, among other confinement systems in use on factory farms. In early April, an Iowa gestation crate facility burned to the ground killing 600 pregnant sows.
"The tragic events of the past few weeks call attention to the folly of factory farming," stated Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. "Had they been given access to the outdoors, these sows could have had a fighting chance to save themselves and their piglets."
The majority of sows bred to provide piglets for the pork industry spend most of their lives inside gestation crates, 2-foot-wide metal enclosures that severely restrict the animals’ movement and thwart their natural behaviors. The animals cannot walk, turn around or lie down comfortably, and studies have shown that they suffer both physical and psychological disorders. Of the two structures destroyed in the fire, one was a gestation crate facility for pregnant sows, and another was a farrowing facility where sows are moved to give birth and nurse their piglets in slightly larger crates. The piglets nurse for a period of two to three weeks before they are removed from their mothers and sent to another facility to be fattened for slaughter.
Baur added, "Keeping pigs in such intensive confinement poses several threats to the animals’ well-being. The heat generated by so many animals inside a building is stifling, and the ammonia fumes from their waste are toxic. Enormous fans are needed to keep the animals from suffocating, and a power outage for even a few hours quickly creates life-threatening conditions for animals trapped inside. When disaster strikes the animals are immobilized and helpless. We’ve seen this with the fires of the past few weeks and the floods from last year on the Mississippi river where thousands of pigs perished in CAFOs irresponsibly built on flood plains. Unfortunately, in these factory farms, the animals suffer regardless of any unforeseen disaster because the industry views and treats them as mere production units."
Gestation crates have been banned throughout most of Europe, as well as in the states of California , Florida , Arizona , Colorado , and Oregon , yet they remain in use throughout Illinois , Iowa and Missouri , the center of pork production in the U.S. In addition to urging the passage of anti-confinement legislation in Illinois , Farm Sanctuary was instrumental in working on popular citizen ballot initiatives in Florida , Arizona and California that effectively banned the use of gestation crates in those states.
In June 2008, the Iowa State Department of Agriculture invited Farm Sanctuary and a coalition of animal rescue groups to come to the aid of 68 pigs stranded on a levee in southeastern Iowa, not far from Schuyler County, Illinois, as a result of flooding in the Mississippi river that destroyed several hog confinement facilities built on flood plains in the region. Today the rescued pigs are living out their lives at sanctuaries throughout the U.S. , many residing at Farm Sanctuary’s national headquarters in Watkins Glen, N.Y.
More information about factory farming can be found at www.factoryfarming.com and www.farmsanctuary.org.
Farm Sanctuary is the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland , Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.
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