And the Fires Rage On: 800,000 Birds Burn in Texas, 25,000 in Canada
Published July 12, 2009 @ 11:08AM PT
800,000 hens died in a Texas fire this week, though most news headlines seemed more concerned with reporting that the Cal-Maine egg facility was "damaged" in the fire.
Courtesy WSJ:
"We are very fortunate that this fire occurred at the end of the work day and there were no personal injuries sustained," Chairman and Chief Executive Fred Adams said Friday.
Because one person being injured would have been a PR nightmare. But 800,000 terrified, choking, burning hens? That's nothing. Indeed, in addition to not having to worry about people caring, the company also doesn't have to worry much about this hurting them financially:
The company expects minimal financial impact on operations due to insurance coverage and doesn't anticipate long-term disruptions to customers.
After all, this facility, confining up to 1.5 million hens, accounts for only 3-4 percent of the company's weekly "production"--chickens are exploited, abused, and killed for egg production and "meat" in numbers too large to even comprehend.
These fires aren't uncommon. Just a few days ago, Glenn of Liberation BC pointed out this Canadian newspaper article: "Barn blazes turn up heat on building codes." This covered a fire there this past week that killed 25,000 chickens.
And in just one week last month, I posted on two different fires in the United States: "25,000 Are Dead, But 'No One' Is Hurt, and Others Were 'Spared'" and "Thousands of Chickens Burn Alive; CCF Is Amused." But I haven't posted every time I've seen a mention of a fire. And there have certainly been fires I haven't even heard of.
The fires will keep happening. And though hundreds of thousands--perhaps millions even, especially this year--of animals die in the flames and smoke, most people will never even hear about their deaths. And though 25,000 in a fire here and 800,000 in a fire there sounds like an extraordinary number of animals--and is an extraordinary number of animals--it's nothing compared to the number we nonchalantly kill in gruesome slaughterhouses each year: billions.
Finally, in case you're wondering whether any individuals or news outlets went the tacky route in the face of extreme suffering, as has happened in the reporting of previous fires, the answer is yes. One Texas news station's headline? "Flames Fry Texas Egg Farm." Hilarious. Maybe the person writing the station's headlines should take a look at this post the next time he or she is considering going for a comedic effect with a story such as this.
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Stephanie Ernst is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull. In her advocacy, she works to challenge prevailing perceptions of animals, to show the connections between animal exploitation and other injustices, to help people see that animals are more like us than different, and to encourage compassionate, nonviolent living and eating.
This is the section of the Manitoba story that really struck me:
"Most succumbed to smoke before flame early Tuesday morning, so Mr. Schroeder didn't have to hear them die. But even without a head full of animal screams – a haunting noise that has sent many rural Manitoba firefighters into counselling – the veteran chief found it a difficult scene."
Even though the industry works hard to hide this fact, these are living, feeling creatures who suffer just as we do. Those screams are reason enough to let them live. These firefighters are hopefully realizing that even without burning to death, the animals are suffering on farms every day.
Posted by Glenn Gaetz on 07/12/2009 @ 06:28PM PT
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Exactly.
What's also interesting, though, is that the story contradicts itself in a really confusing way. It said that Schroeder didn't get there until after the building was "fully engulfed" and after all the animals were surely already dead. So it doesn't seem to me that we have any proof one way or the other that the birds weren't screaming this time too (or that they all succumbed to smoke inhalation rather than being burned--did they perform autopsies? somehow I doubt it). Reads like the actual reason he didn't hear their panicked cries was because he arrived after they were already dead.
Posted by Stephanie Ernst on 07/12/2009 @ 06:42PM PT
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Another tragedy for sure... yet, in a way - I think at least these hens are free from any further torment. Because of what species they were born, their lives were destined to be a short or prolonged hell on earth.
I have a suspicion though, that this fall/winter, because of the decline in demand for pig flesh (and eggs) - there will be an increase in these already frequent fires. This is an awful thought, (of deliberately set fires) - but I have little reason to believe that these animal growers don't purposely ignite them in a down-turned market.
Wouldn't I love to be an insurance fraud investigator in one of these claims.
Posted by Bea Elliott on 07/13/2009 @ 05:23AM PT
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Heh. Interesting possibility, Bea. Do you have a source for decline in demand for pig flesh and eggs? I hadn't heard anything new about eggs.
Posted by Luella - on 07/13/2009 @ 09:50AM PT
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Hi Luella - "hog" prices are down... I guess because of swine flu? Or even possibly "Death on a Factory Farm?" --- or a combination of many events:
Smithfield Foods reports $190.3M loss - first since 1975
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/06/smithfield-foods-reports-1903m-loss-first-1975
Smithfield reduces pig herd to cover losses
http://www.pigprogress.net/news/smithfield-reduces-pig-herd-to-cover-losses-id3085.html
Unfortunately, they do just what dairy does: "cull more" ... then "breed more" when the market returns.
Pilgrim's Pride put 1,300 employees out of work when it closed the Farmerville plant in early May, following the company's bankruptcy reorganization filing in Texas. http://poultryandeggnews.com/poultrytoday/news/20090708/232665.shtml
I think most of the chicken/egg financial "woes" are just restructuring --- but higher feed costs have got to be hurting them as well.
http://www.wattpoultry.com/EggIndustry/News.aspx?id=30471
Domestic U.S. consumption in 2009 will attain 245.3 per capita, compared to 248.3 and 250.1 eggs in 2008 and 2007 respectively.
http://www.wattpoultry.com/TopEgg.aspx
Producers expect drop in egg prices in 2009
It's great to believe that demand might be down slightly from effective vegan advocacy! :)
Posted by Bea Elliott on 07/13/2009 @ 10:57AM PT
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Oooops! one more:
Egg prices down 31% compared to last year
http://www.wattpoultry.com/eggstats.aspx
Posted by Bea Elliott on 07/13/2009 @ 11:15AM PT
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I heard a story on the radio about pig farmers in Saskatchewan deliberately burning their farms to collect the insurance because they are losing money. I can't find anything about it right now, but here's another story from earlier this year about fires:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2009/01/28/barn-fire.html
Posted by Glenn Gaetz on 07/13/2009 @ 11:24AM PT
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Here is a very recent video from CETFA on the topic of barn fires in Canada, and the suffering pigs endure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz270bj4o0Q&feature=fvsr
Posted by oliver lall on 08/21/2009 @ 09:13AM PT
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Horrible video! But at the end - it was made by an organization that wishes to protect the "welfare of FOOD ANIMALS" ... I don't know what to say! :(
Posted by Bea Elliott on 08/22/2009 @ 07:18PM PT
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I agree with you, Bea, about the name of the organization; 'farmed animals' would sound so much better. From what I was told, the name, though, was not meant to disregard farmed animals as commodities for human use, but to distinguish the issues the organization is dealing with, i.e. farmed animals used for food.
Posted by oliver lall on 08/23/2009 @ 07:08PM PT
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"Farmed animals" = "harmed" animals... Least that's the way my mind hears it. Man and his proprietary use and disposal of other beings - none if it can ever be any good.
Posted by Bea Elliott on 08/24/2009 @ 11:22AM PT
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