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Earlier this week, thousands of cows were killed in a dairy farm explosion in Texas Panhandle. The exact cause for the same has not been determined. While a female employee fortunately survived, the incident resulted in significant animal fatalities. State and dairy officials are now attempting to clean up the charred cow carcasses by burying them. Only a small number of the cows survived the blast.
Netizens could not believe that such a drastic incident occurred. One internet user reacted to the same by saying:
The dairy farm fire occurred in Castro County, which has several cattle ranches. Sheriff Sal Rivera claimed that the exact number of animals killed was unknown. However, initial reports suggested that 18,000 cows died during the explosion. In an interview with KFDA, he said:
“Your count probably is close to that. There’s some that survived, there’s some that are probably injured to the point where they’ll have to be destroyed.”
The exact reason for the detonation has not yet been revealed. However, County Judge Many Gfeller believes a malfunction in a piece of farm equipment led to the fire.
Reacting to the dairy farm incident, Roger Malone, the mayor of Dimmitt, said:
“It’s mind-boggling. I don’t think it’s ever happened before around here. It’s a real tragedy. This is the deadliest fire involving cattle we know of. In the past, we have seen fires involving several hundred cows at a time, but nothing anything near this level of mortality.”
Netizens react to the dairy farm explosion
Internet users found the explosion peculiar, and many found it hard to believe that a problem with farm equipment could lead to this incident. Some netizens speculated that this incident was intentionally caused by a party. Additionally, several netizens compared the incident to the recent train derailments, including that of Nebraska and Ohio.
People also demanded answers for the dairy farm incident. A few reactions to the same read:
Castro County was the second highest-producing county in Texas, generating over 145,000 pounds of milk every month. This is not the first time a large number of cattle have passed away in a fire. In December 2015, a blizzard killed 20,000 cattle across the Texas Panhandle. 2017’s Hurricane Harvey drowned thousands of cows in Texas as well.
Reacting to the fire, Margie Fishman, the public relations manager of the Animal Welfare Institute, said:
“We hope the industry will remain focused on this issue and strongly encourage farms to adopt commonsense fire safety measures. It is hard to imagine anything worse than being burned alive.”
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has teamed up with the AgriLife Extension Service to work on burying the carcasses. The logistics of this remains uncertain, and it remains to be seen how the situation will be dealt with.
