Seven herds of cattle have been placed under quarantine in Canada as health officials try to discover the origins of North America’s first case of Mad Cow Disease in a decade. (See leatherbiz.com, ‘Canada confirms case of Mad Cow Disease’ - 21.05.03 and ‘Mexico and Japan ban Canadian cattle imports’ - 22.05.03). Five of the herds quarantined are in Alberta and the other two in Saskatchewan.
Claude Lavigne of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has revealed that the infected cow may have been born in the country’s Saskatchewan province. If so, it would be the first case of a North American cow contracting the disease. The only other previous case of BSE in the region involved a bull imported from Britain.
The US, Mexico, Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand have all placed a temporary ban on the import of Canadian cattle.
