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About 2,000 pigs were killed in a fire that destroyed four buildings on a farm in Asahi, Chiba Prefecture, on Monday night.
According to police, a farm employee called 119 at 7:30 p.m. to report the fire. Firefighters battled the blaze for about four hours, TV Asahi reported.
About 4,000 square meters of pigsties were destroyed, leaving at least 2,000 animals dead.
© Japan Today
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warispeace
This is the sad state of the industrial farming system today, where animals are often crammed into poorly ventilated buildings, where a fire such as the one reported can lead to a cruel death for pigs that lead cruel lives just so people can over-consume meat protein.
edojin
One result of this disaster will probably be higher pork prices in the Kanto area. That's just what we don't need right now ... especially in the face of Abenomics.
Maria
Poor animals - burnt alive, some of them will have been, screaming to get out and away from the smoke. That's appalling.
Disillusioned
Insurance job for sure! Why would all four buildings burn at the same time? I guess there is a lot of methane gas, but......
browny1
4,000 squ.m divided by 2,000 pigs = 2 squ.m per pig or much less I guess, considering access / storage / common areas etc - which means they were really being porked by the pig eating & sundry associates fraternity.
Fadamor
Who said they all burned at the same time? Firefighters battled the blaze for four hours so the fire could easily have started in one building and leapfrogged to the others - especially if the others were downwind of the first.
The article said "About 4,000 square meters of pigsties were destroyed." To me that means where the pigs were actually penned and not the common areas, access area, storage, etc. 2^2 meters per pig sounds about right. They aren't there to get exercise. They're there to eat, grow, and poop.
wildwest
Must be heart breaking for the farmers.
browny1
Fadamor - you could be correct - but I didn't mean the whole pig farm as the sties themselves would require internal access(walkways etc) that I imagined would be included in the building floorspace.
But irregardless, as you suggested, they are not there to enjoy a life of grubbing, mucking & wallowing - but simply to be. And that be is at the whim of the flesh eaters whose profit margins are all that matter.
Loylypop
Huge waste indeed