A fire broke out on Sunday June 16, 2024 at 5:40 a.m. in a stud farm in the town of Bernesq, in Calvados. Seventy horses (mares and foals) died in the flames, trapped in their stalls, according to an initial report from the prefecture.
The fire affected a 500 m2 shed housing a broodmare and belonging to the Bernesq stud farm, located on the castle grounds of this small town in Bessin, and dedicated to the breeding of racing horses.
Origin, a priori, accidental
“Checks are necessary but there are 70 dead horses”mares and foals which were in this shed, indicated the Calvados prefecture to AFP.
Firefighters were still on scene late Sunday morning.
According to the prefecture, the origin of the fire is a priori accidental but investigations will be carried out by the gendarmerie as part of an open investigation to determine the precise causes.
The stud before justice in 2023
Haras de Bernesq had already been talked about in other circumstances. Judicial this time. Thus, its former manager was sentenced in May 2023 to a criminal fine of €3,000, of which €2,000 was suspended, as well as a lifetime ban on keeping equines and exercising a profession related to animals. during 5 years.
On February 13, 2018, the Stéphane Lamart association“In defense of animal rights” had actually received several reports of mistreatment towards around a hundred horses housed in this stud farm. She immediately filed a complaint for serious abuse.
Agents from the Department of Population Protection (DDPP) of Calvados intervened at the stud farm, accompanied by gendarmes to carry out a check. They then noted, according to comments reported by the association “the presence of 160 horses, some of which were starving, emaciated and in a very worrying state of health with unhealed wounds. The boxes were not well maintained. However, this stud farm enjoyed great notoriety and certain horses were boarded there. »
Placed in receivership in June 2017, this stud farm was sold to a new owner in 2019.
