An explosion and fire at a dairy farm this week near Dimmitt, Texas, killed thousands of dairy cows and injured one person, according to Castro County authorities.
After putting out the fire, officials were extremely shocked at the scale of death left behind: 19,000 heads of cows died in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm—or nearly three times the number of cattle led to slaughter(屠宰) each day across the U.S. “It’s mind-boggling”, Dimmitt Mayor Roger Malone said of the number of deaths. “I don’t think it’s ever happened before around here. It’s a real tragedy.”
A breakdown in a piece of equipment at the South Fork Dairy farm may have caused an explosion that led to the fire, said County Judge Mandy Gfeller, the county’s top executive. Texas fire officials are still investigating the exact cause, she said. Malone said he wasn’t aware of any previous fires reported at the facility. He said the dairy had opened in the area just over three years ago and employed between 50 to 60 people. The owners of South Fork Dairy couldn’t be reached for comment.
Now, state and dairy officials are turning to the massive, messy task of cleaning up the 19,000 dead bodies. On its website, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lists several rules for onsite burial of bodies, including burying the animal at least 50 feet from the nearest well and recording GPS coordinates(坐标) of the site. TCEQ and the AgriLife Extension Service are teaming up to assist in the clean up effort, officials said. Malone said he’s taken emergency management courses that teach how to dispose of animal bodies after a disaster, just not at this scale. “How do you dispose of 19,000 dead bodies?” he said. “That’s something you just don’t run into very much.”
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