CHICAGO, July 26(ABC): Top US cattle feeding companies sent 1,000-pound carcasses to a Kansas landfill, where they were flattened by loader machines and mixed with trash, after a June heatwave killed thousands of cows, documents seen by Reuters show.
Other cattle were buried in unlined graves, a feeding company said.
Neither is a typical method for disposing of bodies. But so many cows died in the unusual heat and humidity that facilities that normally convert carcasses into pet food and fertilizer products were overwhelmed, prompting the state government and cattle feeders to take emergency measures.
The mass deaths and subsequent scramble to deal with decaying bodies sparked a push for changes in the meat industry in Kansas, the third-largest US cattle state.
Kansas is forecast to see more high temperatures that can stress and potentially kill cattle this summer, adding to the myriad problems caused by increasingly extreme weather linked to climate change.
Although state officials authorized companies to dispose of carcasses at the Seward County Landfill in Liberal, Kansas, they are now considering alternatives to decrease the risks for foul smells and other problems if more deaths occur, the landfill’s director said.
The disposal methods and identities of companies that lost cattle have not previously been reported. They were contained in documents Reuters obtained from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and confirmed by some companies involved.