On the second anniversary of the fire at the Alt Tellin pig fattening facility, the German Animal Welfare Federation and its Mecklenburg-Vorpommern regional association are commemorating the devastating catastrophe in which around 56,000 pigs died. The federation expresses its solidarity with all those protesting against the reconstruction of the facility on March 30.
"There must be no new mega plant in Alt Tellin. Industrial agricultural factories that 'produce' animals like goods are unacceptable for animal welfare and environmental reasons and are no longer socially acceptable," says Kerstin Lenz, Chairwoman of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern regional association of the German Animal Welfare Federation. "We need a change in agricultural animal husbandry - with fewer animals that are kept better. This would also benefit fire protection," added Thomas Schröder, President of the German Animal Welfare Federation. The German government should also finally fulfill its promise in the coalition agreement and tighten up legislation to protect against fires and technical faults in stables.
In the view of animal welfare activists, effective fire prevention and protection measures should become mandatory in all stables, such as automatic alarm systems, fire-resistant building materials and fire doors, fire walls, escape doors that open outwards and an adequate supply of extinguishing water. Outlets to the outside would have the advantage that animals could escape outside in the event of a fire. Under no circumstances, however, should pigs be restrained, as in crate housing. This makes it impossible to rescue the animals.
BARN FIRES HAPPEN AGAIN AND AGAIN
The flaming inferno in Alt Tellin was just one particularly horrific example of the 5,000 fires that occur in German livestock facilities every year, according to the German Insurance Association. On average, there are 14 fires a day. In January, for example, 1,800 piglets died in a barn fire in Baden-Württemberg. In Neubörger, Lower Saxony, the same barn burned twice: 4,000 piglets died.
