And the Fires Rage On: 800,000 Birds Burn in Texas, 25,000 in Canada

by Stephanie Ernst · 2009-07-12 11:08:00 UTC
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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.

Stephanie Ernst wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
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