It Might Well Be That You're Paying For Torture
My Most Important Article So Far
Incidents In Farms And Culling Due To Diseases
There are two major moral issues that are often overlooked in discussions about the consumption of animal products—even among those generally well-informed on animal ethics:
Fires on farms, where animals are literally burned alive.
Diseases outbreaks such as avian flu or swine flu, which frequently lead to the mass culling of animals. These cullings are often carried out through extremely cruel methods, including ventilation shutdown (VSD), where animals are asphyxiated and effectively roasted to death. In some less developed countries—particularly in parts of Asia—animals may even be buried alive.
These literally cause torturous levels of suffering.
The key takeaway is this: By paying for animal products, you are implicitly accepting the risk that animals may be subjected to these horrific outcomes. Fires and disease outbreaks are not rare anomalies—they are inherent risks of animal farming.
And as we will now see, these are not fringe incidents. On the contrary, they are alarmingly common.
The Stats
In 2024 alone, the United States lost ≈1.5 million farm animals to barn fires, while the current avian-influenza emergency has already suffocated well over 40 million birds via VSD+. Outside the U.S., at least a million pigs and cattle were buried alive during South Korea’s 2010-11 foot-and-mouth crisis, and Chinese farms continued the practice during African swine fever. The figures below are compiled from the best publicly available government datasets, insurance records, FOIA disclosures and media investigations; because most jurisdictions do not require systematic reporting, they almost certainly underestimate the true toll.
Barn/CAFO Fires
United States, 2024 : ≈ 1.53 million farm animals (95 % poultry)
United States, 2023 : 468 000; running decade total ≈ 6.8 million (US record: 1.6 million in 2020)
Texas dairy explosion, Apr 2023 : 18 000 cattle – deadliest single U.S. barn fire on record
Netherlands, 2023 : 37 000 animals; one 2024 blaze killed 50 000 hens
Germany, 2021 : ≥ 56 000 pigs in one fire
United Kingdom (average) : ≈ 1 million farm animals/yr in barn fires
Large single-species sheds confine thousands to millions of birds or hundreds of cattle under one roof; once an electrical fault or equipment spark ignites combustible litter, animals have no escape route and sprinklers are rarely mandated.
Ventilation-Shutdown (VSD / VSD+)
Method: barns are sealed, fans shut off, and (for VSD+) heaters or CO₂ are added until internal temperatures exceed ≈ 105 °F (40 °C); birds or pigs die of combined heatstroke and suffocation.
United States (avian-influenza response)
Feb–Oct 2022: 46.7 million commercial birds culled; AWI FOIA analysis shows ≈ 41 million (≈ 88 %) died via VSD+ combinations (9.4 M heat-only + >31 M heat + CO₂/foam).
Feb 2022–Aug 2023: USDA data confirm 58.8 million birds affected; VSD+ used on 71 % of table-egg houses, 49 % of turkey premises, 35 % of broiler houses.
By mid-2023: independent veterinary audit estimates > 49 million birds killed with VSD+ so far in the outbreak.
Pigs during the COVID-19 supply-chain crisis (2020)
At least 2 million U.S. pigs, chickens and cattle were “depopulated” on-farm when slaughterhouses closed; Iowa officials warned that up to 700 000 pigs per week might be killed, often by VSD. Investigations documented whole-barn VSD+ kills in Mid-western pig CAFOs.
Burial of Animals Alive During Disease Control
Foot-and-mouth, South Korea 2010-11 : ≈ 1.4 million pigs & cattle burried alive. Trenches lined with plastic, animals bulldozed in alive.
Government statement (same epidemic)“up to 1 million pigs” burried alive.
African swine fever, China 2019 : One Hebei farm: 20 000 pigs (6 000 buried alive in 48 h) Millions more pigs killed similarly nationally.
Avian influenza, global 2021-24 : At least 280 million birds dead worldwide; many disposal pits involve mass alive burial.
There are countless harrowing videos available online that starkly reveal the full extent of the atrocities involved in these incidents. They offer undeniable, visceral evidence of the tortuous suffering inflicted—far beyond what statistics or articles can convey. I strongly encourage people—especially those who consume animal products and thereby contribute to this—to seek out and witness these realities for themselves. They speak more powerfully than any report ever could.
Concluding Words
It's crucial to raise awareness about these deeply important moral issues, which are so often overlooked or entirely absent from discussions about animal ethics. Consuming animal products isn't just wrong because it supports the routine killing of animals, or because it funds their confinement in factory farms. It's also wrong because it contributes to the ever-present risk of them enduring the kinds of horrific events we've just discussed—barn fires, mass suffocation, live burial—and other such abominations.