News & Media: Two thousand pigs killed in piggery fire near Young in New South Wales
Two thousand pigs killed in piggery fire near Young in New South Wales
About 2,000 pigs have been killed in a fire at a piggery in central New South Wales.
Emergency Services were called to the fire at around half past five this morning.
A spokesperson for Fire and Rescue told the ABC the blaze destroyed three-quarters of one shed on the farm.
One thousand pigs are reported to have been saved.
Dugald Walker's daughter owns Wonga farm where the blaze occurred.
"I believe there are five rooms that have been burnt," Mr Walker said.
"The building is about 120 metres by 13 metres.
"They have a lot of animals, so the proportion of it is probably quite small.
"The static population might be closer to 40,000 pigs."
Mr Walker said he thinks his family will focus on looking after the remaining pigs on the farm today.
"There's lots of other pigs to look after. They have to sort out a feed system to feed the remaining pigs, that is the first priority," he said.
Mr Walker said he had no knowledge of how the fire started.
"A piggery is similar to a house, and if a fire started you would expect that it had been started by an electrical fault or a fault in gas heating," he said.
"They would be the likely suspects.
"It is a big business and I am an old man and you get used to being punched.
"Of course it is unfortunate and of course they are upset, but people have to cope. That's all there is to it."
Fire and Rescue crews and RFS volunteers remain on the scene, but the blaze is out.
