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1100 pigs die in fire sparked by rodents (The West, 27 Apr). That's tragedy, at least for the pigs. But eleven hundred pigs in one fire?!
The fire was in a 60m x 20m shed. By my calculations, that's a fraction over one square metre per pig. Ever seen the size of a pig? No way one pig would fit inside one square metre! Read on...
It's actually 140 sows plus 1000 piglets. Which is about three metres by three metres per pig family, where a "family" is one sow with about seven piglets. Not so bad, until those piglets grow bigger. It seems crowded to me but I'll leave that issue to the RSPCA. I'm sure the conditions are awful -- even before the fire -- if you believe that a pig deserves some sort of "natural" living environment.
So I'm reminded that animals suffer to satisfy our requirements for food. But I depend on groups such as the RSPCA to balance "suffering" against "economics".
Okay, I offered a joke...
The rural affairs journalist wrote his report on the terrible fire in the piggery. "Three thousand and six piglets killed in piggery fire," he wrote.That's a lot of piglets, thought the editor. She phoned the pig farmer.
"Were there really 3,006 piglets killed in that fire in your piggery?" she asked.
"Yeth," replied the farmer.
The final story read, "Three sows and six piglets killed in piggery fire."
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