By David Crowe
July 25, 2002
The Canadian government has passed a death sentence on a herd of Vancouver Island water buffalo based on fear of Mad Cow Disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy – BSE). This is without any reports of this disease in this species, but apparently based solely on the occurrence of a case in a Danish cow that was discovered shortly after the buffalo were exported from Denmark, and suspicion of anything that originates from Bulgaria.
Nineteen buffalo were brought to Canada in January 2000 by Anthea and Darrell Archer who run Fairburn Farm near Duncan on Vancouver Island. They intended to focus on dairy products produced from their milk, although excess male animals might have been destined for slaughter as meat if it had not been for the BSE scare.
According to the Office International des Epizooties, which monitors and governs world trade in live animals, BSE has never been reported in a water buffalo. This may be partly due to their low protein requirements, allowing them to grow without supplements, including the meat and bone meal (MBM) that some blame for the rise of BSE in England. Water buffalo are usually allowed to feed by grazing. Another explanation for the lack of BSE in this species may be that they are not exposed to the organophosphate pesticides and high Magnesium mineral supplements that characterized British high volume cow production in the early 1980’s.
This did not stop the Canadian government from imposing an order to destroy the entire herd in September 2000. The order was brought down a day after the government cashed the Archer’s check for import testing expenses. Incredibly, the government claimed that the animals had been imported in contravention of import regulations. Conequently the Archer’s would have to pay for all slaughter-related expenses, and would not be compensated for the loss of their animals.
Part of the problem appears to be that the water buffalo now on Vancouver Island originated in Bulgaria, even though this country has never had a case of BSE in any animal and there is no evidence that MBM supplements from England were ever exported there, let alone fed to water buffalo.
Dr. Kellar, a Canadian government veterinarian has a great deal of skepticism about any claims originating from Bulgaria. He pointed out that the absence of disease in a developing country could be due to bad record keeping, although it is unlikely that an epidemic of Mad Cow disease would go unnoticed. This skepticism even applies to the statements of their internationally recognized buffalo expert, Professor Alexo Alexiev, who has stated that buffalo in Bulgaria are not fed meat-based supplements.
The buffalo were exported to Denmark, where they were quarantined until re-exported to Canada in January 2000. Two Danish veterinarians confirmed that the animals were not fed meat-based supplements during this period. Denmark has only detected 9 cases of BSE since 1989, compared to the hundreds of thousands in England. Out of 6 cases in 2001, only one was among the 70 animals found with BSE symptoms, the others were just positive tests. Some theorize, based on the incubation time of prions, that 100 cases could eventually occur in Danish cows. Because of this, some livestock products such as meat, are banned from import into Canada.
The Archers appealed the first destruction order in a Federal court, where it was overturned. The Ministry of Agriculture was ordered to perform a risk assessment, this time including input from the Archers. Although the Archers were able to find many experts to support their position that buffalo posed no risk of introducing BSE into Canada, this was largely ignored by the Ministry, and a second destroy order was issued in January 2002. This time, the government agreed to compensate the Archers CDN$4000 per animal. The order did not require the destruction of all animals in the herd, but only the 14 remaining imported animals.
One of the experts who testified for the Archers was Joan Orr, a toxicology consultant. She noted that there are many ways by which BSE-contaminated products could have gotten into Canada, including through the import of British MBM until 1978. Based on the assumption that BSE is an infectious disease caused by prions, a number of cases could be expected to occur in the future, especially as cannibalistic feeding practices continue in Canada for cows. She pointed out that the case against the buffalo rests on assumptions about possible contamination of feed or dishonesty on the part of Bulgarians, but that similar contamination and dishonesty is quite likely within Canada, and yet is apparently of no concern to the Canadian government.
It is not clear how the government expects transmission of BSE to occur from the buffalo, if one or more did come down with the disease. The animals were obtained largely for milk production, and this is such an unlikely route for transmission by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) that milk and milk products can be imported from countries even when other products are banned due to fear of BSE.
The Archers did not appeal the second order, but did reach a settlement, whereby condemned mothers would be allowed to continue nursing their calves for five months. The new deadline for delivery to a slaughterhouse is July 31, 2002.
When talking to Anthea Archer recently, she seemed resigned to accept the fate of most of their herd, but hopeful that they would be able to rebuild with the remaining animals. She remains concerned that the Canadian government continues to take a selective view of scientific research, not accepting, for example, that maternal transmission is highly unlikely. This could mean that they may later come back and order the destruction of the rest of their herd.
It is tempting to look for a hidden agenda in a situation like this, where a government is apparently acting irrationally. Buffalo hardly seem a big enough business to be perceived as a threat by cattle producers. Perhaps it is nothing more than the fear of a bureaucratic system where repeating the actions of others usually protects it from future claims that a crisis could have been averted. In that climate, over-reaction becomes far more acceptable than trying to rationally consider the possibility of leaving well enough alone.
The Archers maintain a website at http://www.savethewaterbuffalo.com/entry.htm [Note: don’t try it, it has been taken over by a porn site] which contains more information, and provides a list of ways that people can assist.
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