Earlier this week, 41,000 chickens suffocated at a prison
farm after a power outage shut off ventilation systems in the large warehouses where
the birds were kept.
For those who aren’t familiar, a prison farm is typically a
large correctional facility where convicts are used for manual labor. In this
instance, the prisoners were working on a factory farm that raises chickens for
meat.
According to a local
news source in Arkansas, “A tractor driver hit poles at the farm in August,
resulting in a seven-hour power outage.
This is far from the first time tragic incidents like these
have made headlines. Devastating fires near the top of the list.
This past June, multiple fires killed hundreds of cows and
1,500 pigs across Canada, and in July, a barn fire killed more
than 1,200 pigs in North Carolina. Six
cows had to be euthanized after a fire broke out on the truck
transporting them to slaughter in Nebraska, and in South Africa, nearly
100,000 baby chicks were killed after the main structure at the farm
caught fire.
Stories like these serve as painful reminders of the dangers
farmed animals face when intensively confined on factory farms and during
transport, unable to flee fires, floods,
tornados, or other disasters.
Do your part to help end the cruel treatment of farmed
animals by choosing to eat delicious and humane plant-based alternatives to
meat, dairy, and eggs. Learn more at ChooseVeg.com.