Better than the slaughterhouse, I guess...

[Catty1]

700 pigs die in fire at Chilliwack barns

2 hours, 12 minutes ago

An estimated 700 pigs have died in a fire that ravaged two barns in Chilliwack, B.C., early Wednesday and has left at least one farmer devastated by the loss.

"The buildings are pretty much totally destroyed," James MacDonald, assistant fire chief in the small city 100 kilometres east of Vancouver, said about the 2 a.m. PT blaze.

"There was heavy black smoke coming from the buildings on our arrival. So, at that point in time, the buildings were almost to the point of not being saveable."

MacDonald said it took about an hour to extinguish the fire, but crews were still on the scene several hours later to make sure it did not flare up again.

Johnny Guliker, who rented one of the barns to raise some pigs, said the pigs were his livelihood, and he doesn't know what he'll do now.

"I just hope that they all had a very peaceful death. That's all. I didn't want to hear any noises, and I was glad when I came there that the firefighters told me that they all basically died in their sleep."

The fire department said the pigs likely died of smoke inhalation. Caused of the fire hasn't been determined.

Chilliwack has a population of about 76,000.

[lvpets2002]

OMG that is so sad.. I will bet the farmer is just sick about this.. That was his $$ living was money off the pigs.. It is still so sad all had to die that way in a fire..

[Catty1]

I was thinking his making a living off them meant they would be slaughtered. The irony here is that he is glad they went in their sleep (smoke inhalation).

I would guess he uses the most humane slaughter methods he can too. I hope so.

[elizabethann]

Poor pigs.

RIP pigs.

[Marigold2]

Old McDonald had a farm

[wombat2u2004]

This happened in a little town near me about a couple of years ago.
Evidently these cattle all milled around a tree when the storm hit, and a bolt of lightning struck the tree.
He lost 50% of his stock in a split second....tragic.

Lightning strike kills Dorrigo cattle
By Steve MacDonald

Friday, 04/11/2005

A staggering 68 dairy cows, all in full milk, have died on a farm near Dorrigo after being struck by lightning on the last day of October.

The cows, all camped in a paddock, were struck by lightning at lunchtime when a fierce electrical storm hit the area at Fernbrook on the Waterfall Way.

Most of those killed were jerseys along with a few holsteins.

Sixty-nine cows on the farm are understood to have survived.

The Marks family has been herd recording and breeding for over 60 years and it is a major loss of bloodlines from the stock, hit by a single strike.