On Monday, April 10, 2023, 18,000 cows died in a barn fire in Texas, United States. One employee was injured in the fire at this dairy farm.
A catastrophe of breeding proportions. Devastated by the flames, the hangar that housed more than 18,000 cows, could not be evacuated in time to protect the animals from burns or serious injuries. A farm worker was also injured and taken to the hospital.
Methane blamed for explosion?
The fire would have started in the milking parlour, say our colleagues from Parisian. An explosion is believed to be the cause of this first outbreak of fire at the massive South Fork Dairy Farn dairy farm in South Fork state Texas in the USA.
Sid Miller, the Texas Agriculture Commissioner, told AFP, quoted by France 24, that the origins of the tragedy are undetermined.
Once we know the cause and the facts surrounding this tragedy, we will ensure that the public is fully informed so that such catastrophes can be avoided in the future.
There could be a leak or overheating in the manure system. This substance releases a lot of the methane found in cow excrement. This gas highly flammable could have caused the explosion.
irreparable damage
“It’s hard to think of anything worse than being burned alive,” that was the case with those 18,000 animals. While some have escaped death, there could be dozens of cows Euthanized because of their injuries.
The American Animal Welfare Institute calls it the deadliest cattle fire in the United States in more than twenty years. In the past ten years six million animals died in disasters that occurred in such a context.
The farms’ Achilles’ heel is their population density, not to mention the fact that they are riddled with electrical structures that have been damaged by the outdoor conditions the sheds bring.