Firefighters Hear Screams As 1,200 Pigs Burn to Death in Barn Fire
Roughly 1,200 pigs burned to death on a Southern Ontario farm after a roaring fire quickly engulfed a barn filled with animals.
About 40 firefighters from three stations answered the call to put out the barn fire on a Quinte West farm. They rushed to pull pigs out of the blaze and succeeded with 100 of them. But in a devastating turn of events, the barn collapsed, trapping the remaining animals inside without any hope of rescue.
“[W]hen you hear animals screaming and crying and [see] a couple piglets coming out on fire, it’s not your normal fire,” Quinte West Fire Chief John Whelan stated to CTV Ottawa.
It was also reported that pigs who were severely injured by the fire were euthanized.
Firefighters battled the flames for several hours. Whelan told CTV Ottawa that the cause of the fire was electrical. The barn held incubators for newborn piglets, but authorities are uncertain whether the fire started with the incubators.
Barn fires commonly kill massive numbers of animals. These buildings can have many fire hazards—such as dry materials and shoddy wiring—and they often lack safety measures, such as fire escapes for the animals, sprinkler systems, and fire detectors.
Tragedies like this occur when living, feeling beings are treated like inanimate crops.
Don’t kid yourself—these animals felt their skin boil and their lungs burn just as humans would. They most likely cried out for relief that would never come, and until their final seconds, they no doubt did everything that they could to try to escape a horrifically painful death.
On farms today, sensitive animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy, windowless sheds and stuffed into wire cages and metal crates. They never get the chance to raise their families, root around in the soil, build nests, or do anything else that is natural and important to them. Most don’t even feel the warmth of the sun on their back or breathe fresh air until the day they’re loaded onto a truck headed for the slaughterhouse.
You Can Help Save Countless Animals From a Tragic Death
These 1,200 pigs didn’t have to die—they were trapped in a fire because humans still dine on animal flesh. The best things that you can do for animals right now are to go vegan and persuade others to do so, too. By simply leaving animals off your plate, you’ll save nearly 200 living beings a year from a senseless, terrifying death.
