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About 4,800 chickens perished in a fire that destroyed a compound at a chicken ranch in Taku, Shiga Prefecture, early Saturday morning.
According to police, flames were seen coming from the 1,000-square-meter compound at around 2:30 a.m. It took firefighters about 90 minutes to extinguish the blaze, NTV reported.
An employee of the farm suffered light burns. Police believe the probable cause of the fire was an explosion caused by a gas heating unit.
© Japan Today
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sensei258
The horror, the horror
FightingViking
I don't even want to imagine those poor birds being burnt alive...
Alistair Carnell
This is not the first time there's been a chicken farm fire, there were a couple reported here last year, as well as pig farms. Insurance job ?
CrazyJoe
These fires are as tragic as any fire that consumes a life. What a horrific scene that must have been.
gaijinfo
I wonder what that must have smelled like...
cleo
According to TV Asahi, the manager of the 'ranch' (aka as prefab sheds stuffed with birds) 'noticed a gas heater had gone out, struck a light to relight it, and ignited gas that had leaked from the heater and pooled on the floor'.
The birds were apparently being raised for the pot - 水炊き鍋. They came to their grisly end just a few weeks earlier than planned.
FightingViking
Being burnt is EXTREMELY painful. I feel sorry for the poor birds.
LaWren
Battery chicken farm conditions are so inhumane, this is just awful. Poor chickens.
lucabrasi
@Fighting
If it's any consolation, chickens have tiny airways; the vast majority would have died from the smoke.