13 April 2017 / 19:38 UTC-07 Tango 06 (25 Farvardin 1396/17 Rajab 1438/18 Jia Chen 4715)
“I can’t explain how this is moving around. My concern is it is moving in something.”-Bret Marsh, Indiana State Board of Animal Health
In the United States, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health warning of what appears to be a new type of Bovine tuberculosis (TB) hitting both wild deer and domestic cows.
Supposedly Indiana’s cattle industry was TB free from 1984 until about nine years ago. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) testing revealed that the most recent cases of Bovine TB in wild white-tailed deer and domestic cattle are of the same strain of TB. Also of interest is that one raccoon also tested positive for the same TB strain.
The particular strain of Bovine TB first popped up in 2008 in domestic cattle in Indiana. In 2009 the first wild deer case was found, also in Indiana, and it has spread across the United States. Since then thousands of cattle and several types of wild deer and elk have been culled.
Last month South Dakota’s Game Fish and Parks Department discovered a herd of cattle infected with TB (the first time since 2011), they will be culled at U.S. taxpayer expense (the USDA will compensate the farmer). Even the cows that tested negative will be killed.
In February this year the USDA identified cows from Nebraska as being infected. It was also revealed that infected cows were found in feed lots in Nebraska and South Dakota in November 2016.
Bovine TB is considered the most infectious across animal specie, but I’ve discovered that until 1994 Bovine TB was considered rare in wild animals. Michigan Department of Natural Resources says until 1994 only eight wild deer were documented to have the disease. However, for some publicly unexplained reason, in 1995 Michigan required that wild deer killed by hunters, or found dead, had to be tested for the disease. Since than not only have deer been found infected but so have elk, black bear, bobcat, coyote, opossum, raccoon, and red fox (‘You big dummy!’ No not that Redd Foxx).
Michigan’s domestic cattle industry is also being hit. Earlier this month the USDA confirmed that a cow in Newaygo County tested positive. A study by Michigan State University concluded that the main culprit in the spread of Bovine TB are salt licks set out by cattle ranchers. Basically the wild deer come onto the farms at night to lick the salt, then move on during the day. They pick up the TB from the domestic cows and then spread it across state lines.
The country of New Zealand reporting great progress in fighting Bovine TB. In the Gregorian year of 2000 there were at least 7-hundred documented cases in deer and cattle. Today the Operational Solutions for Primary Industries reports that there are currently 41 cases.
In the country of Ireland it’s reported that from the 1st quarter of 2016 to the 1st quarter of 2017 at least 2-thousand 8-hundred cases of Bovine TB were confirmed! Interestingly wild deer are being blamed (even though it’s actually domestic cattle who should be blamed) and the Manor Kilbride Deer Management Project is demanding that hunters be allowed to kill-off as many as 50-thousand deer just in the tiny county of Wicklow! Local news reports revealed that cattle farmers are blaming the deer for the TB epidemic in the hopes of freeing up more grazing land for their domestic cows.
In the United Kingdom, the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales and County Hall is demanding an elk cull, not because they have Bovine TB but to find out if they do! Turns out that the elk roam on private lands and are not required to be routinely tested, as domestic cows are required to be.
OPERATION JUPITER: RACCOONS HIT WITH UNKNOWN DISEASE?