The search for the origin of the Alberta cow that became Canada's first case of mad cow disease in a decade spread to neighbouring Saskatchewan on Wednesday.
Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Clay Serby said officials are investigating the possibility that the cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, spent some of its life in his province.
A ranch in northwestern Saskatchewan has been placed under quarantine, meaning cattle will be prohibited from entering or leaving the farm, while the investigation continues, Mr. Serby said.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency was investigating whether a total of three or four farms may be linked to the infected Alberta cow, said agency spokesman Dr. Claude Lavigne.
A calf, part of a herd of 198 cattle scheduled to be slaughtered, stands in a pen during a demonstration against the German government's handling of the mad-cow crisis on Feb. 12, 2001, near Dresden. (Sean Gallup/ Getty Images)
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Mr. Serby said he is worried about the implications to Saskatchewan.
"To hear first of all that we have BSE in Canada was a difficult message," Mr. Serby said at an afternoon news conference.
"To think that it may have had its origins in Saskatchewan is a doubly tough message for our province to hear."
The infected cow was diagnosed after it was sent for slaughter from a farm in northern Alberta. The agency has ordered the entire herd from that farm destroyed so the animals' brains can be tested for the disease.
At least two other ranches, including the one where the infected cow was initially found, are also under quarantine. Cattle from the infected cow's herd were on their way to a slaughterhouse in Lethbridge, Alta.
Herds from the other ranches with links to the Alberta cow will remain alive for now pending the results of the investgation at the first ranch.
"That's why these herds are considered an important part of the investigation," Mr. Lavigne said.
All cattle on the first farm are to be tested for BSE by scientists at the agency's laboratory in Winnipeg.
Test results are expected within three days of receiving the samples at the laboratory, Mr. Lavigne said. He added there may be other herds put under quarantine if the infected cow is linked to them.
CTV Newsnet reported Wednesday that the infected cow likely came from a farm near Wanham, a small town about 750 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
A camera crew arrived at the farm Wednesday afternoon to see Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials load 150 cattle onto four large cattle trucks destined for southern Alberta to be slaughtered and tested.
The farmer refused comment, but a neighbour of the farmer, who didn't want to be identified, said the man moved to the area about three or four years ago from Mississippi.
"They're nice people," the neighbour said.
The farm has a tidy yard and a neat, white house across a gravel road from machinery sheds and about three dozen grain bins. Several trucks carrying cattle left the farm about 12:30 p.m., said another neighbour.
The man just got into cattle farming and had mainly been a grain farmer, neighbours said.
The eight-year-old breeder cow was sent for slaughter on Jan. 31 and condemned as unfit for consumption due to pneumonia and thinness. Its head arrived on Feb. 8 at an Alberta laboratory and stayed in a freezer until it was first tested last week. The confirmation of BSE came Tuesday.
Dr. George Luterbach, chief veterinarian for animal health for the food inspection agency's western area, said the rest of the Alberta animal's carcass ended up at a rendering plant, where it was processed for feed for non-ruminants such as chicken or swine. He said there is no evidence to suggest such single-stomach animals can be harmed by eating such feed.
However, feeding protein from slaughtered cows to cattle does spread the disease, and the practice has been banned since 1997. As well, people who eat the meat of infected animals can develop a deadly human variant of the disease.
Mad cow disease devastated the British beef industry in the 1980s, and Canadian officials are determined to isolate the Canadian outbreak.
"The investigation is underway," said Dr. Luterbach. "It's going to be thorough, comprehensive, and down the road we will be able to report to you the facts of the case. At this point in time, our focus is on developing a chronology for this animal from birth to death and focus on what feeding regimes were used throughout its life."
Canada stopped taking cattle from Europe in 1990, so it had to have been born in the U.S. or Canada, Mr. Lavigne said.
Mr. Lavigne also said 211 calves were shipped under the name of the herd with the infected cow so far this year.
"They will all be quarantined and separated from any other animals they may be in contact with at this time and depending on the investigation we'll see what will be the fate of these animals," Mr. Lavigne said.
It's possible that mad cow disease can be transferred from mother to calf but it's not the primary mode of transmission, he said.
Mr. Lavigne didn't know the total number of cows now in quarantine.
Federal and provincial officials have inspected the slaughterhouse, rendering plant and feed mills that the cow went through, Lavigne said.
"As a result of these inspections we are confident that BSE controls are being followed, including the feed ban and that the appropriate quality control systems are in place," Mr. Lavigne said.
Veterinarian experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture were to arrive Wednesday in Canada to assist officials at the agency's laboratory in Winnipeg and in the field investigation.
United States agriculture officials have temporarily banned beef imports from Canada. Australia, South Korea and Japan have also announced they were banning imports of Canadian breeding cattle because of the disease.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien tried to quell any panic Wednesday, saying Canada has one of the best inspection systems in the world.
"Let's see what the problem is first," he said in Ottawa. "If it is one herd, it's not the same thing than if it is spread. So we hope and we pray, we have all indication that it is one cow in one herd. After that, when we have more information we will advise."
Mr. Chrétien, who ate steak at an Ottawa restaurant Wednesday, said the federal government acted quickly when it was informed of the test result on Friday.
Finance Minister John Manley said it was too soon to talk about what sort of financial assistance might be available to Canadian farmers should the scare turn into a full-blown crisis for the $30-billion beef industry.
"We'll need to know what the full impact is before we can discern what the response will be," Manley told reporters after a policy speech in Toronto.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a chronic degenerative disorder affecting the central nervous system of cattle. Since the disease was first diagnosed in Great Britain in 1986, there have been more than 180,000 cases.
More than 100 people in Europe have died since 1995 from eating meat from infected cattle.
