Sept. 15, 2005 — Hurricane Katrina extracted a heavy toll on farm animals in the Gulf Coast, where widespread factory farm conditions helped to exacerbate the storm's impact, said The Humane Society of the United States in a recent report.

The suffering and loss of life experienced by cows, chickens, pigs and other farm animals in the Gulf Coast was staggering, according to The Humane Society,

"The destruction caused by Katrina has left countless farm animals trapped in filthy pens, stalls, cages and sheds without food or water," said Miyun Park, director of Farm Animal Welfare for The Humane Society of the United States, in the report.

Outside of The Humane Society, few have addressed the situation in anything other than economic terms.

The report told of cattle raised for beef surrounded by saltwater and starving to death in southern Louisiana.

In Alabama, roofs were blown from up to 30 chicken sheds, while hundreds of such sheds in Mississippi — each housing thousands of birds — were damaged and destroyed by the storm.

As fierce winds battered the sheds, many were literally torn to pieces and some even collapsed on the birds inside, said the report.

Most of the deaths, however, occurred in the storm's aftermath as utilities failed and animals were trapped in confined spaces without food, water or ventilation.

Sixty years ago, before factory farming became widespread, the death toll and amount of suffering would likely have been considerably less, according to the report by The Humane Society of the United States.

Today, many small farms in the Gulf Coast area have been replaced by large, industrialized animal factories, where animals live in cramped conditions and are fed, watered and kept cool by machines.

"When power systems fail, animals in intensive confinement systems are particularly vulnerable, put at risk by stifling summer heat, toxic ammonia, and limited or inaccessible food and water," said Park in the report.

The Humane Society estimates that approximately 635 million farm animals were living in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi prior to Hurricane Katrina.

"We will not forget the millions of farm animals devastated by this natural disaster," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, in the report.

"Their deaths by crushing buildings, dehydration or injury are not merely 'economic losses.'

"As our disaster rescue teams move further into the region, we will do whatever we can to help end the suffering of those still languishing."

Added Park, "Just because these animals are being raised for food doesn't mean they should not be humanely cared for."