Suspected Act of Vandalism Kills 3,800 Northwest Iowa Pigs
A Meat and Dairy Industries Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Dolly A. Butz, Sioux City Journal
November 2009

"These confinements have an alarm system that if something goes bad with the air handling unit it telephones to a certain location," Altena said. "They shut down both of those."

A suspected act of vandalism at a hog confinement near Hull that caused the deaths of thousands of pigs last week has puzzled authorities.

"We have no idea why somebody would do something like this," Sioux County Sheriff Dan Altena said Monday.

According to Altena, someone entered the facility, 2739 Highway 75, and intentionally turned off the confinement's airflow and alarm systems sometime during the overnight hours last Thursday, causing 3,800 pigs to suffocate.

"These confinements have an alarm system that if something goes bad with the air handling unit it telephones to a certain location," Altena said. "They shut down both of those."

At 10:30 a.m. Friday, owner Todd Hasche, of rural Rock Rapids, Iowa, called police and reported that all of the feeder pigs at the facility were dead and that someone had tampered with the confinement's airflow system.

"You kind of go into crisis mode and get juice back to the barn as soon as possible," Hasche said Monday by phone of his actions when he discovered the airflow system had been shut off. But is was too late, all of the pigs at the confinement had perished.

Hasche, who owns three hog confinements, said the main breakers in the barn and a stand-by generator were turned off and the alarm system was disabled. This act of vandalism was "very cruel," and "as intentional as can be," according to Hasche.

The 50-60 lb. pigs were ready to be shipped off Friday afternoon, but instead, Hasche said he and his friends and neighbors spent three hours removing their carcasses from the barn. The loss of the pigs is estimated at over $200,000.

Altena said investigators are looking into the possibility that the suspect had information about how to gain access to the airflow system. He said his office has no concrete suspects at this time.

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