On Monday, April 10, at least 18,000 cattle were killed in an explosion and fire at a dairy farm in Texas.
It is said to have happened at the South Fork Dairy in Dimmitt.
According to Castro County Sheriff Sal Rivera, the fire from the explosion spread to the building where cattle are hauled before being brought into the milking area and into a holding pen.
According to Rivera, only a small percentage of the farm’s cows survived.
According to the Animal Welfare Institute, this is the deadliest barn fire for cattle overall and the most devastating barn fire in Texas since tracking barn fires began in 2013.
“We hope the industry will stay focused on this issue and strongly encourage farms to implement common sense fire safety measures,” AWF Public Relations Manager Margie Fishman said. “It’s difficult to think of anything worse than being burned alive.”
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality arrived on the scene on Tuesday to assist the owner with carcass disposal and debris issues.
The explosion injured at least one person, who was in critical condition.
