Thirty animals dies in farm blaze

May 4 2008 by Eleanor Gregson, Sunday Sun

A DISTRAUGHT smallholder has spoken of his anger after more than 30 of his animals died in a blaze.

Emergency services originally thought they were dealing with an allotment fire when they were called to Tanfield Lea, County Durham, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

But, when they arrived, they discovered horses, pigs, geese and rabbits trapped in a burning barn, prompting them to call for a further two appliances to help deal with the incident.

The animals killed were a cherished 28-year-old Shetland pony, a horse, 20 pigs, three geese and eight rabbits.

A joint investigation into the fire has been launched by police and the fire service, who say it is too early to say if the blaze was suspicious.

However, Wayne Slowther, 50, who owns the land on the Good Street Estate, is in no doubt.

He said: “To say I’m angry is an understatement. I can’t believe what they’ve done. I hope whoever did it can live with themselves.”

Seven of the pigs, including a hand-reared boar and a piglet, were so badly hurt they had to be shot. Some of them had escaped through the barn’s windows and were covered in cuts.

The animals that did not make it out of the barn died of smoke inhalation before being consumed by the flames.

The horse and the pony died while they were still in their stalls and the fire also destroyed a rabbit hutch, killing all the rabbits inside.

Some of the animals may not be removed until tomorrow due to the barn’s tricky location and the amount of debris from the fire.

A truck which arrived to collect the carcasses of the shot pigs did not have a long enough chain to pull out any of the burned animal bodies.

Last night, a spokesman for Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue said dealing with the fire had been a harrowing experience for the firefighters.

He said: “It was quite traumatic.

“It’s bad enough when you are dealing with a fire involving one person or one animal, and hearing their screams and squeals, so to arrive at this scene and find this many animals all on fire was not nice.

“We’ve had a report that a gentleman has seen one pig running around in woods nearby with burn injuries, so it’s possible one animal has escaped.”