Hurricane Florence Aftermath

Following devastating Hurricane Florence in 2018, Animal Outlook investigators were on the ground — and in the air — in North Carolina. Among the devastating flooding, they documented the toll of this deadly storm on the environment, surrounding residential areas, and on animals.

It is a severe toll that’s been multiplied by factory farms, where manure lagoons have spilled tons of untreated waste into waterways and enveloped local communities.

What our investigators found is heartbreaking (see video below and more images here).

Abandoned in locked cages and sheds, with no chance to escape the rising waters of the relentless floods, millions of farmed animals were simply left to die. Flooded waterways have surrounded factory farms, cutting off food supply and surely leaving those animals who did not drown, to slowly starve.

It has so far been reported that more than 5,500 pigs and 4.1 million chickens and turkeys have died as a result of this storm. Farmers have no incentive to protect these animals, who are considered property and insured as such. They are seen as mere commodities. But not by us.