Hundreds of pigs were burned alive when an electrical fire destroyed the barn in which they were crammed at a factory farm in Utah operated by Murphy-Brown, LLC, a subsidiary of notorious pig abuser Smithfield Foods, Inc. Gruesome pictures taken by a news crew on the scene show a mass of charred bodies piled on the floor of the building. 

An emergency response coordinator for the area reported that he thought some of the pigs had survived, but considering the fact that any survivors face a fate that is hardly less ghastly, it is hard to hope for that. As one former Smithfield employee recounted:

Please share this post with your meat-eating friends and tell them that if they are opposed to cruelty to animals, they should put their opposition into action by ordering PETA’s free vegetarian/vegan starter kit today. 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

It's been an especially bad month for animals on factory farms. Thousands of animals died in fires over the past couple weeks, hens at a Nebraska egg farm were going to be ground up alive until PETA stepped in, and we now have word that nearly 1,000 pigs starved to death after apparently being abandoned on a farm in Fulton County, Pa.

The pigs were discovered by the estranged wife of the farmer who reportedly vacated the property several months ago—and apparently left hundreds of pigs and several calves behind to die. According to a humane society police officer who responded to the scene, evidence indicates that the animals were trapped inside barns and "struggled and fought to get out."

Union Township Supervisor Gary Sheeder, who is an acquaintance of the farm's owner, was appalled by scale of the tragedy. "I can't believe, with as many kids as he had, that life didn't mean more to him," he told a reporter. 

The real estate agent who is handling the sale of the death trap farm was more sanguine: "I think this is very normal in a lot of farming operations, that you're going to have dead animals."

Yeah, our undercover investigators have noticed that too.

Fortunately, authorities are taking the case seriously, and several state and local agencies—including the humane society, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the state Department of Environmental Protection, and the Pennsylvania State Police—are investigating and are considering pressing charges. Check back for updates as we learn more.

Written by Alisa Mullins

Thousands of "laying" hens died an almost unimaginably horrific death when the barn that they were trapped in burned two days before Halloween. It was the first of three fires involving farmed animals in Ontario in just over a week. Three days later, 10 calves perished in a fire at a dairy farm near London, Ontario. Then, 70 cows and calves died when a fire swept through a barn at a dairy farm near Ottawa on Friday. That's not even counting the suspicious fire at a hog farm in Manitoba that we told you about last week.

A concerned citizen visited the chicken farm and captured this footage of the hens, dead in their cages:
 

The farmer's reaction to the carnage? He noted that neither the chickens nor the barn had any particular sentimental value and stated, rather unnecessarily, that "there won't be any income from the hens, that's for sure."

Perhaps these hens' deaths won't have been entirely in vain if this tragic story convinces even one person with a heart slightly larger than a chicken farmer's to swear off eggs. 

Written by Alisa Mullins

… to publicly thank The Pretty Reckless vocalist and Gossip Girl star for making the compassionate, responsible decision to have her pooch neutered.

It's no secret that we at PETA are nuts (geddit?) about the pluses of spaying and neutering—two safe, simple procedures that help to reduce the number of homeless dogs and cats.

So we at PETA would like to submit the following poem in Momsen's honor:

Oh, Taylor Momsen!
You're sure to see
A media spectacle
'Cause you lit your dog's (detached) testicles

But at PETA, we stand and applaud
The choice you made, it should be law
To neuter your friend
And help put an end
To the homelessness of millions who have paws

Written by Karin Bennett

At least, it's true for firefighters in Portland, Maine. After learning that the Portland Fire Department (PFD) was looking for help in equipping all fire stations with oxygen masks for animals, PETA has donated six masks, in various sizes, to assist with the effort. All too often, first responders have had to treat animals suffering from smoke inhalation with poorly fitting oxygen masks designed for humans—so cheers to the good folks of the PFD for making sure that they're ready to help everyone who is endangered by fires.

They say, "As Maine goes, so goes the nation," so let's hope that more fire departments will soon follow in Portland's compassionate footsteps—maybe you could even make the suggestion at your local fire station. And let's also hope that more of us who share our homes with animal companions will take this as a cue to include them in our emergency plans by posting a notice on the doors of our homes about how many animals are inside in case of fire.

Written by Jeff Mackey

Tragic news from the U.K.: A huge fire at an animal-breeding center in southwest England early Tuesday morning killed more than 350 guinea pigs, (some reports are indicating that as many as 1,000 animals may have died, including guinea pigs, rabbits, and rats).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jreed/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Police believe the fire may have been caused by an electrical fault, but mass-breeding facilities are notorious for keeping animals in dangerous and inadequate conditions and neglecting even their most basic needs for safety, food, water, exercise, and veterinary care. Case in point: U.S. Global Exotics, where PETA's undercover investigator found, among other abuses, that animals were being confined to soda bottles and milk jugs and tossed into freezers to die slowly instead of being taken to a veterinarian.

Let's hope that this tragic fire causes people to realize that confining animals and forcing them to bring more offspring into a world that already doesn't have enough good homes for all the guinea pigs, rabbits, and rats who already exist is never in the animals' best interest.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

In a recent fire on an Ohio egg farm, 250,000 hens died after they were left in two sheds that had the electricity knocked out in order to battle the fire. Once the fire was squelched, all the birds were "euthanized" (we don't know how they were killed) because, according to a spokeswoman for Ohio Fresh Eggs, it was the "humane thing to do."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aleutia/ / CC BY 2.0

First, take a minute to soak in the fact that there were more than 250,000 hens crammed into two sheds. Chickens on egg farms are packed into battery cages so tightly that they don't even have enough room to lie down, and the cages are stacked from floor to ceiling. They have their beaks seared off without being given any painkillers, and for up to two years they endure relentless cycles of egg-laying. When they become too weak to produce eggs they are trucked to slaughterhouses, where their legs are slammed into metal shackles and they have their throats cut while they are still conscious and able to feel pain.

Animals who are crammed by the thousands into warehouse-like buildings are often out of luck when disaster strikes, because it's not cost-effective for farm operators (and they certainly don't care enough) to take the time to implement evacuation plans. The loss of life caused by fires, floods, and other disasters is all too common on factory farms.

Of course, any animal who has suffered through a tragedy like this should be given a humane release from pain, but the representative also declined to comment on the method that was used to kill these poor chickens. If it's anything like the way many egg farms "euthanize" their male chicks—by leaving them to suffocate in plastic bags or by sending them through giant meat grinders while they are still alive—then I would say that "humane" isn't part of the equation.

Want to make sure that tragedies like these don't continue to occur? Go vegan.

Written by Heather Drennan

urinaryincontinencesolutions / CC

Ladies—if KFC's cruelty to chickens hasn't convinced you to (as the company suggests) "UnThink the Wing," this wing-induced woe for women might wipe away any cravings for the Colonel's unhealthy offerings.

ScienceDaily.com reports that researchers have found a link between the consumption of E. coli-contaminated chicken flesh, which is available in abundance at supermarkets and restaurants such as KFC, and urinary tract infections (UTI).

For anyone who has ever suffered from an awful UTI, KFC's Web site currently features a chilling reminder of the burning pain (be sure to turn up your computer's volume before visiting the site): Flames light up the screen while a woman sings screeches, "Fire … Fire … Fire."

Could it be that a woman who has to go feels that way because she already went to KFC?

Written by Karin Bennett

In July, thousands of pigs lost their lives when a factory farm in Alberta, Canada, was ravaged by fire. Our friends at Canadians for the Ethical Treatment of Food Animals (CETFA) obtained photos of the aftermath, which show that before succumbing to smoke inhalation, the panicked pigs frantically trampled each another in a futile attempt to escape.

Pregnant sows, trapped in gestation crates, tried desperately to jump out of their stalls or squeeze through the bars. Instead, they died in their cramped prisons. Many of them suffered from ruptured bellies, and their unborn piglets were killed.

On poorly regulated factory farms, where so many animals are crammed together in confined spaces, fires are all too common, and they cause the horrible deaths of thousands of animals.

Please head over to CETFA's Web site right now and support that organization's initiative to prevent the deaths of animals in factory farm fires.

Written by Jeff Mackey

realitytvmagazine / CC

Tracy Morgan is thanking his lucky goldfish this morning, after he and his finned friends miraculously escaped a potentially tragic accident.

People.com reports that a faulty light in the 30 Rock star's fish tank sparked a fire, putting the actor's companions and his home in serious danger. Fortunately, firefighters were able to quickly put out the fire before it spread, and Tracy's beloved shark and piranha, who are housed in the tank, survived the scary ordeal unscathed.

At the risk of being a wet blanket, I'd like to take a moment to reiterate why we think it's best for Nemo and his buddies to stay in their native habitat. Not only are glass tanks confining, they also leave fish vulnerable to dangers that they have no way of escaping. And the methods used to catch exotic fish poison coral reefs and contribute to the decimation of wild populations. So, in addition to refusing to eat or hook sea kittens, let's stop locking them up in little watery jails, shall we?

Written by Jennifer Cierlitsky