Texas Dairy Farm Explosion Kills Over 18K Cows
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Facts
- A massive explosion and fire at the South Fork Dairy in west Texas killed more than 18K cows and left one person critically injured Monday evening, Castro County authorities said Thursday.1
- The cows — each reportedly valued at $2K — were huddled together in a holding pen, waiting to be milked, when the explosion occurred.2
- Most of the cows were a mix of Holstein and Jersey breeds, representing approximately 90% of the farm’s herd.3
- While the cause of the fire was under investigation, Castro County Sheriff Sal Rivera speculates the overheating of the 'honey badger' — a machine that removes manure from the barns — probably ignited methane gas and caused the explosion.4
- This was the deadliest barn fire for cattle, not only in Texas but also throughout the United States, in at least 20 years, according to the Animal Welfare Institute.5
- Nearly 6.5M farm animals have been killed in barn fires since 2013, of which about 6M were chickens and 7.3K were cows.4
Sources: 1France 24, 2USA Today, 3Independent, 4BBC News and 5New York Times.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by Independent. It is hard to imagine anything worse than being burned alive. Ironically, there are no federal regulations protecting animals from fires that kill hundreds of thousands of farm animals each year. Until the government makes laws to prevent barn fires, farms must do more to protect animals by adopting common sense fire safety measures, including having access to fire extinguishers and completing annual fire safety training.
- Narrative B, as provided by Insurance Journal. Local authorities are investigating this tragedy and for good reason. Besides a catastrophic loss of animal life, there are now serious environmental and health issues caused by the number of dead cattle, including potential run-off into the Brazos River Basin. This is another industrial accident in the US with potential cascading consequences for ecosystems and nearby communities.