Infected cow traced to Canada

By Ray Rivera
Seattle Times staff reporter

	ELAINE THOMPSON / AP Kiweon Song, reporting for a Korean television station, uses cattle as a backdrop at the Sunny Dene Ranch yesterday in Mabton, Yakima County. About 4,000 cattle at the ranch are under quarantine.
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The investigation into the nation's first case of mad-cow disease expanded into Canada yesterday after federal agriculture officials determined the Yakima Valley dairy cow stricken with the disease likely came to the U.S. from a herd in the Canadian province of Alberta two years ago.

Ron DeHaven, chief veterinarian with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said officials now believe the Holstein entered this country at Eastport, Idaho, as part of a herd of 74 cattle. DNA testing will be used to conclusively determine the birth herd, DeHaven said.

"What we have is an ear tag that was recovered from the animal at slaughter and records matching the ear-tag number to a herd in Canada," DeHaven said. "We have not been able to absolutely determine if the herd in Canada is the birth herd."

All 74 cattle were believed to have been transported to a holding facility in Mattawa, Yakima County. Officials think the infected cow was sold from that facility to the Sunny Dene Ranch in Mabton, about 40 miles southeast of Yakima, in October 2001. Investigators are tracing the whereabouts of the other 73 cattle.

"Most of them are likely still alive," DeHaven said. "We feel confident that we are going to be able to find most if not all of these animals within the next several days."

Mad-cow timeline Key dates in the life of the infected Mabton dairy cow and in the investigation into America's first case of mad-cow disease: • April 1997: The cow is believed to have been born in Alberta, Canada. • August 2001: Entered United States at Eastport, Idaho, with 73 other cattle. Delivered to a Mattawa, Grant County, finishing company that feeds young cattle until maturation. • October 2001: Sold to Sunny Dene Ranch in Mabton, Yakima County. • Dec. 9: Slaughtered at Vern's Moses Lake Meat Co. Carcass sent to Midway Meats in Centralia for deboning. Meat cuts sent to two processing plants in the Portland area — Willamette Valley Meats and Interstate Meats — which ground the beef and sold some to retailers in Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. • Dec. 11: Testing samples from the cow arrive at U.S. Department of Agriculture lab in Ames, Iowa. • Dec. 22: Preliminary test results are positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad-cow disease. • Dec. 24: USDA recalls all meat processed Dec. 9 at Vern's Moses Lake Meat Co. • Dec. 25: Scientists in England confirm finding of mad-cow disease. Sources: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Associated Press

DeHaven added that there is little risk of any of the other 73 having the disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

USDA investigators and their counterparts in Canada also are looking into discrepancies in the cow's records. Documents from the Mabton farm showed the cow to be 4½ years old and to have had three calves, one of which died at birth and two of which are under quarantine. But according to Canadian records, the cow was born in April 1997 — making it about 6½ — and may have had two calves before crossing the border, said Brian Evans, chief veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Evans, who led the investigation into a single mad-cow case in Canada in May, was on his way to Washington state yesterday to assist in the investigation.

Scientists think mad-cow disease is transmitted through contaminated feed containing the brain and spinal-cord tissue of infected animals. Farmers used to feed their animals meat and bone meal containing such tissue as a protein source. The U.S. banned the practice in August 1997 and Canada followed suit shortly after.

If the Mabton cow does turn out to be the 6½-year-old shown in Canadian records, it would have been born several months before the feed restrictions went into place.

Terry Stokes, chief executive officer of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association in Denver, expressed hope that a confirmation that the cow came from Canada would allow the U.S. to keep its "BSE-free" status, meaning no cases originated here. He urged U.S. trading partners to reopen their borders to U.S. beef.

More than two dozen countries, including Japan, have banned U.S. beef, threatening the $175 billion U.S. cattle industry. A USDA team of trade experts will begin talks in Japan tomorrow in an effort to restore beef exports.

In the Yakima Valley, the news about the Canadian link was treated as a positive development.

"I think it shows that the regulations that have been put in place by the U.S. are working," said Ernie Munck, a large-animal veterinarian who counts a number of dairy farmers in the area among his clients.

But John Stauber, co-author of "Mad Cow USA" and a critic of U.S. regulation of the beef industry, said that even if the cow is from Canada, it shouldn't lessen concern over U.S. beef.

"If there's mad-cow disease in Canada, it's spread through the U.S. and Mexico because of NAFTA," he said, referring to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which eased trade restrictions among the three countries. "It's way too late for the U.S. or Mexico to argue that they're BSE-free."

Cattle flowed freely from Canada to the U.S. before May, when imports were restricted after a single mad-cow case was reported in Alberta. Nearly 3 million cattle entered the U.S. from the north between January 2001 and the end of 2002, according to the USDA.

Canada was a major source for dairy cows in the Yakima Valley in recent years as farmers expanded their herds, said John Top, co-owner of the Toppenish Livestock Commission, a livestock market.

If the Mabton cow is determined to be from Canada, USDA officials said, they could extend import restrictions. The U.S. had been considering reopening the Canadian border to live cattle imports as early as next year.

A confirmation could also mean additional cattle quarantines in Canada. Right now, an estimated 4,000 cattle at the Sunny Dene Ranch are under quarantine, as are 400 at an undisclosed feed lot in the nearby town of Sunnyside, where one of the cow's calves was sent shortly after birth.

Officials are tracing the calves that may have been born in Canada; those also would likely have to be quarantined.

The risk of transmitting BSE from mother to calf is considered slight but has not been dismissed. Scientists do not believe the disease can be transmitted from animal to animal in a herd.

Investigators are looking into whether the Mabton cow was from the same Alberta herd that produced the earlier Canadian case.

Although that case ended up being confined to one infected cow, Canadian authorities slaughtered 1,700 cattle and temporarily quarantined 18 farms. Some 1,500 animals were tested, but no other cases of mad-cow disease were found.

A USDA team is developing a plan to deal with the herds under quarantine in the Yakima Valley, DeHaven said, including how many of those cattle will have to be killed. According to federal and state animal-disease-prevention protocols, all 4,400 cattle under quarantine could potentially be euthanized and their brain tissue tested for BSE.

DeHaven said safeguards would be put in place to ensure the animals are killed humanely and their remains disposed of in an environmentally sound manner.

Meanwhile, federal investigators were continuing to track down and recall any products from the stricken cow, including byproducts used in such items as cosmetics, soap and chicken or pig feed. (Chickens and pigs cannot contract BSE.)

More than 10,000 pounds of beef have been recalled from the Moses Lake slaughterhouse that killed the infected cow Dec. 9.

Ken Petersen of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said meat linked to the infected cow was sold in Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada.

"It's too early for us to know how much of it has, in fact, been sold," Petersen said. "And if it has been sold, whether it has, in fact, been consumed."

Despite the recall, officials continued to assert the nation's food supply is safe and the risk of catching the human form of the disease from any of the products is extremely low.

"This is really being done out of an abundance of caution," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine.

Ray Rivera: 206-464-2926 or rayrivera@seattletimes.com

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