A severe fire ravaged a dairy farm in Montérégie on Monday, killing 250 cows.
In addition to the lost animals, the material damage to the Croteau family is considerable.
Twenty cows managed to escape the flames. However, they must be euthanized because they either suffered burns or inhaled toxic fumes, the Croteau family said.
It is a heavy loss for the owners. The breeding farm had calves that would later become dairy cows.
Patrick Croteau, co-owner of the farm in Saint-Théodore-d’Acton, gave a devastating assessment of the incident.
“Twenty managed to escape. What is certain is that they must all be put to sleep. Most shockingly, we burned down in 2009. We had switched technology and were motivated to build again. Our new installation, it was on point. It was perfect. Now we have no motivation,” he said.
Mr Croteau said he still does not know the cause of the fire.
“It’s disheartening. There is virtually no electricity. The worker had left the scene of the accident 20 minutes before the first flames. Thirty minutes later the ceiling was gone. We have no idea [de la cause]”, he said.
The fire department commander has not yet released any information about the cause of the fire.