Thousands of Farmed Animals Killed By Canada Floods
“Terrible, terrible disaster” strikes British Columbia as heavy rainfall leaves hundreds of farms submerged underwater.
Credit: Twitter/@Plant_Treaty
Heavy rainfall has devastated large areas of British Columbia in Canada and Washington state in the US, leaving thousands of people stranded and killing a huge number of farmed animals.
Several days of torrential rain have resulted in heavy flooding and mudslides, with entire areas partially submerged underwater.
Among the locations most affected is Abbotsford, a city known as one of Canada’s farming hubs. Abbotsford alone supplies half of the dairy, eggs, and poultry consumed by British Columbia’s 5.2 million residents, reports The Guardian.
“There are probably hundreds of farms that have been affected by flooding. Some are still underwater, some are on dry locations and we have thousands of animals that have perished,” Lana Popham, minister of agriculture for British Columbia, told press. “We have many, many more that are in difficult situations.”
An estimate of the number of animals killed in the floods has yet to be calculated, but numbers could be in the millions. Figures from 2010 show that farms in Abbotsford were holding over 9 million poultry birds. Many are expected to have perished in the floods.
“I saw barns that looked like they were half full of water. I can’t imagine that there are any birds left alive, but we don’t have those numbers [of animals killed]”, said Henry Braun, the mayor of Abbotsford.
Pictures show entire barns partially submerged in flood water. But in the midst of the devastation, posts online also show residents trying to rescue animals, including footage of people using jet skis and motorboats to pull cows to the safety of higher ground.
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