November 12, 2007

Bovine TB forces cattle cull in Canadian provinces

British Columbia (BC) and Alberta will slaughter about 470 cattle after a random test showed a bull that had lived in both provinces had bovine tuberculosis.

As many as 30 farms in the two provinces have been quarantined, although no additional infected animals have been found, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The CFIA found a bull with the disease at a slaughterhouse in Quebec in August, veterinarian Maria Koller-Jones said.

The agency traced it back to a farm in Vanderhoof, B.C., located 100 kilometres west of Prince George, and then learned the bull had also spent part of its life in Alberta.

The B.C. farmer had shipped about 400 heads of cattle to Innisfail, Alta., and some animals had moved on to another 20 other farms in the province.

Though it is unlikely that the infection has spread CFIA said all infected animals or any that had been exposed to the disease will be immediately destroyed.