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Farm animals need protection from fire

  • Publication Date | June 29, 2017
  • Document Type | Media Statement
  • Programmes | Forests & Biodiversity
  • Issues | Animal Welfare, Biodiversity
  • Tags | agribusiness, farm animals, Johor, Yong Peng
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Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) is highly disturbed to learn of a recent fire in  Yong Peng, near Batu Pahat,  Johor where a chicken coop was razed to the ground along with the  74 000 chicks.  Although such incidents of fire killing thousands of chicks are sporadic, barn fires capture less public attention than they deserve because they happen in rural areas, often far from major populated centres. However this  should not be taken as a trivial matter but viewed with serious concern by the agriculture authorities.  Being burned alive is said to be the most painful way to die. When the temperatures started rising due to the fire, it basically created a wildfire like effect that just raced through the chicken house.  Often, there are too few workers on hand to do anything to help the animals. By the time firefighters arrive it is often too late.  These hens will continue to choke and burn to death, while firefighters go on putting their lives at risk to battle flames that are deadly.  In addition, farm workers and first responders are put at terrible risk every time one of these fires breaks out.   

These birds are hyper-confined in ways that under normal conditions cause severe stress.  Add an inescapable death by searing heat, its hard to imagine a worse fate.  Even amidst the horrific mass death, chickens are regarded as mere commodities rather than casualties and their suffering is sadly ignored.  The news  solely focuses on profit loss, leaving out the anguish of these birds trapped to burn alive. Their deaths often measured by weight and financial loss rather than by number of lives. 

The first thought would be how much money was lost instead of how many lives destroyed. 
It is a stark reminder that society lends more credence to financial gain and loss than to the unnecessary suffering endured by animals.   Though destined to be dinner, cows, pigs, goats, sheep, chicken and ducks are not farm equipment or produce.  They are sentient beings capable of experiencing fear and pain and they  deserve to be protected  from the inconceivable torture of being burned alive.   

The agribusiness facilities such as buildings, shed, or barns with thousands of birds being raised for meat in a single shed, and several thousand egg laying hens in a single battery-cage unit make their evacuation, when a fire breaks out, virtually impossible.  

The lives of farmed animals are continuously filled with misery and deprivation and with more and more animals crammed into tight spaces, confined and unable to escape in an emergency, drastic changes need to be implemented in order to prevent fires from occurring in the first place.   

They live awful enough lives as it is on dirty, crowded factory farms.  Can society ensure that  they at least will not be burnt  alive or suffocate to death before we get around to slaughtering them?   

As long as our culture continues to view  farmed animals as fungible commodities, then this will allow farmers to dismiss animals as unworthy of protection from horrific harms like fire.  In a society deemed civilized and humane this is unacceptable.   

Farm animals give their lives to supply Malaysian’s demand for meat and animal products.   

It is time to draw attention to the serious lack of safety regulations and measures applied to agriculture.   There is no reason why preventive measures cannot be put in place even in the form of simple alarms and smoke detectors.  There is extreme lack of any type of safety precaution.  There are no regulations, no rules, and no recommendations available to prevent senseless deaths of so many defenceless animals. 

Change is long overdue allowing them to burn with no means of escape is yet another manifestation of a broken food system that fails to acknowledge animals as the sensitive individuals they really are.   

S M Mohamed Idris 
President 

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Testimonials

Sahabat Alam Malaysia adalah satu badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) yang telah sekian lama berjuang mempertahan kelestarian alam. Ia juga mendidik masyarakat tentang pentingnya kebersamaan dalam pemikiran dan tindakan agar alam ini dapat kita wariskan kepada generasi hadapan dalam keadaan yang elok dan terpelihara. Dalam pada itu juga SAM giat membantu golongan nelayan pantai dalam memperjuangkan hak-hak mereka sehinggalah tertubuhnya Persatuan Pendidikan dan Kebajikan Nelayan Pantai Malaysia (JARING). Nelayan pantai sepenuh masa ini dididik oleh SAM sehingga mereka mampu memainkan peranan sebagai pemimpin nelayan yang meneruskan kesinambungan memperjuangkan hak-hak nelayan pantai lainnya. Sebagai contoh SAM telah berjaya menyedarkan masyarakat nelayan keperluan menjaga hutan paya bakau untuk kebaikan hasil tangkapan nelayan itu sendiri.
Jamaluddin Mohamad Bualik
Jamaluddin Mohamad BualikPersatuan Pendidikan dan Kebajikan Jaringan Nelayan Pantai Malaysia (JARING)
During the 1980s, I used to read about the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) in the news. After retirement, some time in 2001, while lazing around, I read news about the construction of a carbon in leach plant using sodium cyanide to extract gold in Bukit Koman. My friends and I visited CAP and we were introduced to SAM and her legal team. We discussed the details of filing a case against the gold mining company and the department of environment with Ms Meenakshi Raman and her legal team. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between lawyers from SAM and many of us from Bukit Koman. We had many ups and downs in our struggle to shut down the gold mine that was causing a nuisance in our village. But, as a community we never gave up because SAM had our backs.
Hue Fui How
Hue Fui HowSecretary, Bukit Koman Ban Cyanide in Goldmining Action Committee (BCAC)
Sahabat Alam Malaysia adalah sebuah NGO yang memperjuangkan nasib masyarakat luar bandar khasnya. SAM menerima aduan-aduan masyarakat dan menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi. SAM telah mewujudkan ramai aktivis-aktivis sosial dan alam sekitar. Pada era 1980 dan 90an SAM sangat dihormati oleh masyarakat dan agensi kerajaan. Apabila media sosial menguasai maklumat maka SAM pun terkesan dan masalah masyarakat terus disalurkan dengan pelbagai cara. SAM perlu mewujudkan aktivis-aktivis pelapis yang muda untuk terus membantu masyarakat. SAM juga perlu membuat perubahan supaya banyak turun kelapangan dan jangan mengharapkan laporan media sahaja. Tingkatkan prestasi sebagaimana pada zaman kegemilangan SAM di era 80-90an.
Che Ani Mt Zain
Che Ani Mt Zain
SAM taught me the importance of social activism and the role it plays in upholding the rights of people and the protection of the environment. In my experience, SAM has never hesitated to speak up in defence of people and their environment, and has gone the extra mile to champion their rights, by helping communities take their battles to the higher ups and even to the courts.
Jessica Binwani
Jessica BinwaniPublic/Private Interest Lawyer
Semenjak kami kenal SAM, banyak pengalaman dan pengetahuan yg kami dapat. Kami telah belajar cara membuat baja asli daripada SAM. Semenjak itu, bermulalah minat kami dalam aktiviti pertanian. Dengan memperolehi kemahiran dalam membuat baja asli dan penanaman lestari, kami juga telah dapat menambahkan pendapatan sampingan kami. Ini lebih baik daripada tanah kami terbiar dan tidak diusahakan. Terima kasih SAM kerana sudi memberi bantuan dan tunjuk ajar kepada Persatuan kami.
Chedo Anak Nyuwen
Chedo Anak NyuwenPersatuan Penduduk Sg Buri, Bakong, Marudi
My journey with SAM started when her community organisers took me to the meet the paddy farmers of Kedah, connecting my growing interest in environmental law with our people who struggle to work the land in the face of pollution, replacement of traditional seeds with commercial hybrids and their accompanying chemical package of fertilisers and weedicides. I then had the honour to work with SAM in the struggle for the rights of the native communities of Sarawak, in defence of their forests from massive logging and destructive mega-projects. In every issue that SAM takes up, she combines rigorous research with the realities and voices of the communities to advocate for policies and laws that care for people and nature. From the courts to the elected legislators to policy makers and implementers and to the United Nations, SAM walks side by side with the communities in Malaysia. How can I not be inspired by the vision and passion of the generations of women and men who coalesce to form SAM?
Chee Yoke Ling
Chee Yoke Lingstudent of SAM, Executive Director of Third World Network, SAM’s sister organisation

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Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Headquarters)
No. 1, Jalan Joki, 11400 Penang,
Malaysia
Tel: +604 827 6930
Fax: +604 827 6932

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Marudi Office)
129A, First Floor,
Jalan Tuanku Taha,
P.O.Box 216,
98058 Marudi, Baram, Sarawak,
Malaysia
Tel & Fax: +6085 758 973

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