A recent fire at Moark Farms, a southern California egg factory farm, resulted in the heartbreaking deaths of about 100,000 baby chicks, who were just four days old and desperately trapped in the burning building.
Firefighters at the scene were able to put out the blaze before it spread to a second coop, which housed another 100,000 baby chicks. The fire is currently “under investigation,” according to the LA Times.
This isn’t the first time a Moark Farms factory warehouses has burst into flames. Less than a year before, a Moark facility in Colorado burned to the ground, killing almost half a million chickens. Moark is a wholly owned subsidiary of Land O’Lakes.
Sadly, there has been a shocking number of fires at egg factory farms around the country that have resulted in the mass deaths of an astonishing number of birds. In May 2011, MFA documented an Ohio barn fire that killed over 80,000 egg-laying hens. Another 250,000 birds had died a year earlier at Ohio’s largest egg farm. A 2009 Texas fire caused over 800,000 birds to perish, and yet another in 2010 resulted in the death of a firefighter and countless birds.
The intensive confinement of animals on factory farms also makes them vulnerable to other deadly horrors. A Connecticut egg farm that collapsed in 2011 resulted in the deaths of 85,000 birds. A tornado that hit Buckeye Egg Farm in Ohio caused over a million birds to be trapped in mangled cages without access to food or water, leading the company to dispose of these live animals by throwing them into dumpsters. And just last year, owners of a Turlock egg factory farm abandoned their filthy facility and nearly 50,000 birds, who suffered without food for weeks. This case of neglect led to cruelty to animals charges against two workers.
Tragically, even farmed animals spared from such disasters face misery and doom due to the unconscionable cruelty inherent in factory farming.
Norco Ranch, one of Moark’s operating companies, was the subject of an MFA undercover investigation in 2008 that revealed the company’s blatant disregard for animal well-being: birds confined in tiny wire cages so small they couldn’t walk or engage in other basic behaviors; ill birds denied veterinary care or proper attention; and workers killing birds by grabbing their necks and swinging them around in circles–attempts to break their necks, which often resulted in prolonged, painful deaths for the animals.
Fortunately, we need not support such large-scale, unimaginable suffering. Every time we eat we can choose to withdraw our support from an industry that flagrantly flouts the safety and well-being of the animals in its care. To find delicious, egg-free versions of your favorite foods, from french toast to cookies to egg salad sandwiches, visit ChooseVeg.com.
