A follow-up to my recent post on animals dying in factory farm fires: The Washington Post reported earlier this month that 100 cows perished in a factory farm in Frederick, Maryland. There were 170 cows and calves in the barn and 70 were rescued. According to the local fire marshal, the barn was incredibly flammable due to the dry "hay, hay dust and grain" within.
A more recent blog entry on the Washington Post's "Crime Scene" blog indicated that 114 cows perished in the fire.
Any comment I make on this tragedy is just stating the obvious. Not only are factory farms dark and cold and frightening gulags for animals, but they're also deadly firetraps. Even in farms like this one, where the cows were apparently cared for well and it is a family-run operation, tinderbox conditions exist.
Even the best factory farms - run by conscientious people - are prisons for animals. We can only hope a great change will come.
Yes, isn't it tragic... These poor trapped cows. I can't imagine how much torment they had before their deaths. And all this for "humane" dairy and meat. So sad...
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