Pig farming is the
raising and breeding of domestic pigs. It is a branch of animal husbandry. Pigs
are raised principally as food (e.g. pork, bacon, gammon) and sometimes for
their skin.Pigs are amenable to many different styles of farming. In some countries, commercial farms house thousands of pigs in
climate-controlled buildings.
Fire is
the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of
combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reactionproducts. The flame is
the visible portion of the fire. Fire in its most common form can result in
conflagration, which has the potential to cause physical damage through
burning.
For a
commoner, fire [not the one in kitchen] is often destructive. We come across instances of fire destroying
property. For Insurer, it is a major
product in Commercial insurance. In
India, we presently have the ‘Standard Fire and Special Perils Policy’ which
offers protection against Fire and other allied perils. Earlier, we had Fire Policy A, B & C. The subject matter of insurance – can be :
Building; Plant & Machinery and stocks.
While stocks is a general nomenclature, depending on the nature of
occupation, this could be inanimate and sometimes animate things too !
There is news of
thousands of pigsdying from heat stress at a piggery in Australia. Sydney Morning Herald and other newspapers
appreciate the efforts of a farmhand who risked his life even as 2500 pigs
perished in a shed inferno. This
occurred in a farm known as Wonga Piggery in New Southwales. The fire, believed to have been started by an
electrical fault, destroyed about 70 per cent of the 120-metre shed in which
the pigs were housed.
A farmhand who came across the blaze at the
Wonga Piggery in Moppity Road risked his life to save another 1500 animals.He
managed to save the pigs by prising open a door of the shed against the
heat. The blaze, believed to have
started from an electrical fault, took rural fire brigades more than an hour to
bring under control. The man who saw the
blaze raised an alarm and prised open the door saving thousands. The farmhand's heroism has been praised but
the farm's staff and owners remain shattered by the loss of life."It's a
catastrophic event for them," said Australian Pork representative Emily Mackintosh,
who spoke on behalf of the business.
Wonga piggery
became an inferno making it fiery hell for 2500 pigs and causing financial loss
to its owner. The massive loss of
livestock follows the deaths of 500 pigs at a piggery in Grong Grong in February,
when an air-conditioning system in the shed in which they were housed broke
down.Ms Mackintosh said piggery staff spent most of Wednesday ensuring the fire
didn't spread throughout the facility, focusing on the safety of the surviving
pigs and mopping up."The EPA doesn't allow them to dispose of the
carcasses on site so they will be transporting them to a landfill about an hour
out of Young," she said.A vet and a biosecurity officer attended the scene
of the fire and euthanised 33 injured pigs.
"Unfortunately,
at this stage, it hasn't been confirmed but we're looking at around 2500 pigs
lost," Riverina Local Land Services biosecurity and emergency services
manager Ray Willis said. He said that land services staff left the property at
11am and were awaiting clearance from police forensic investigators to return
to help with the clean-up."We'll also provide advice on the appropriate
disposal and reducing the disease risk of the carcasses," Mr Willis said.
Young police
Inspector Ashley Holmes said there was nothing to indicate the fire was
suspicious.Australian Pork is working with the piggery management to provide
counselling.The MP for the area and former NSW primary industries minister
Katrina Hodgkinson - who has had many dealings with the Wonga Piggery owners -
said she was devastated to learn of the loss and passed on her deepest
condolences.Elise Burgess, spokeswoman for animal protection institute
Voiceless, said: "This is a tragic event, which represents an unacceptable
failure to ensure animal welfare and shows a clear lack of duty of
care."It is heartbreaking to imagine the pain and fear these animals would
have felt before they burnt to death.
"On factory
farms, it is standard practice to lock thousands of sentient creatures in barns
without adequate monitoring systems. "These housing conditions meant that,
when fire broke out, thousands of pigs were trapped and were unable to escape a
painful death. This incident proves once again that these brutal confinement
systems have no place in Australian farming."The
owner might get financial compensation, provided the farm was adequately
insured, but for the animals, it is tragic death – though they were raised to
die later….
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
Inputs
largely reproduced from smh.com.au.
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