Hog Watch Manitoba (HWM) Calls for Safer Barns After Thousands of Animals Die in Another Fire.

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WINNIPEG: HWM, a citizens’ group which monitors the industry in the province, calls the blaze “horrific.” Three thousand, five hundred pigs perished when two barns burned to the ground near New Bothwell last week.

It’s just the latest in a series of similar incidents in the province that have left thousands more hogs dead over the past decade. The barns are not equipped with the same fire walls or alarm/sprinkler systems that most other buildings must have.

And HWM fears that plans by the Pallister government to remove what it calls “impractical and costly” fire prevention regulations in barn construction, will only make a bad situation even worse.How can these changes make the situation better?

 “Although the thousands of pigs that have died in barn fires are not someone’s pet, they are all sentient beings that have the capacity to suffer fear and pain” says Vicki Burns of HWM. “If there were horrific fires like this in animal shelters like humane societies, the public would not tolerate it.  We should not be tolerating this for any animal housing, whether they are cats and dogs or animals raised for agricultural production. The degree of pain experienced in a fatal fire will be excruciating for any animals”.

Janine Gibson, an organic inspector and member of HWM, says “ These barn fires do not need to happen . We have the means to provide good fire prevention in our barns, just as we do in other buildings. Let’s make this happen to offer more humane circumstances for all animals."

HWM believes that hog producers need to receive enough remuneration that they can afford to build safe, healthy barns.
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Comments

John Fefchak said…
Hog/pig losses from barn fires over the past 14 years…. 2002-2016 , have been calculated at 84,438…. averaging 6000 animals per year.

And isn't it ironic, that our Manitoba Pallister government is presently in the midst of creating LESS safety features in the building of and maintaining hog barns in a Money$$ saving effort for the factory hog producers.

They call it the Red Tape Reduction and government Efficiency Act.
June 13, 2017 at 6:44 AM
John Fefchak said…
Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi, whose profound spirituality and belief in justice inspired the world, tells us:
" The greatness of a Nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated"
Sadly, Manitoba and many other provinces of Canada have failed to achieve this
ethical standard and that, in my view readers, is "The Very Heart of the Matter"
July 19, 2017 at 9:50 AM
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