Over a 1000 pigs die in fire, in Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow - A look at the nature of tragedy

Hey, it’s come to light why Legend is so upset – more than a thousand pregnant pigs on fire: The dates match up and it was only a couple of KMs away from Harmony Hall.

I am a believer in seeing the divine spark in everyone but I wish that spark had gone off in the house and they’d been the ones locked in to contemplate their life choices.

They described the tragedy as financial – the dry sow shed was the engine of the business, each was about to produce up to 15 piglets.

Hang on maybe, what farmers have lined up for animals is indeed a fate worse than death. Maybe the half an hour of terror and suffocation and being burnt alive was better than producing a dozen piglets and then another dozen and then another, never seeing daylight and bringing the young in to a world of no hope at all. At least being burnt in an accident, isn’t personal.

This is similar to the first case that my Dad heard as a judge. A woman had killed her daughter, as she felt she couldn’t protect her once she became a teenager. What a difficult decision, she wasn’t a threat to society but she couldn’t just be let off killing someone either….

Unless it’s an animal. You can kill them until they’re coming out of your ears and even complain bitterly that they’re costing you money.

Hang on, notice what they say at the end of the article. The farmer goes on about how they have enough pigs left to keep them going until Christmas and then they will have to close the business. The insurance will take too long.

Does that sound suspicious to anyone? The thought process being, I want to retire soon and get out of farming. I just need one lump sum to start a new hobby in retirement and sell off my stock by Christmas.

Anyway, Legend says sod the fickle farmers, spare a thought for the penned in pigs – 25,000 square feet of chock a block pregnant pigs, black smoke, roaring flames and no one even opening the bloody door.

We are doing a soul release ceremony today, planting two trees in their honour and remaining grateful that more and more people are giving up meat.

Carlow Nationalist Article - Pigs on Fire 

I don't know which is most offensive killing gor business as usual or being compensated for loss of business. The worst was Bernard Matthews bringing in bird flu from his Hungarian battery farms, claiming it wasn't his fault and the government compensating him 6 million for having to put all his turkeys down - not care for them, drown them, gas them incinerate them.

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