by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com
Monday, March 7, 2005
One single cow. That's all it took for the ultimate loss of an estimated $7 billion to the beleaguered, over-regimented by government Canadian cattle industry.
There were no Sherlock Holmes-type detectives out on the hunt trying to find out how the sick cow showed up one day in land-vast Canada.
a long-term, proud Canadian tradition, the once thriving cattle industry, was plunged into crisis by the discovery of a single infected cow.
The clues of the Canadian Mad Cow Mystery are worth at least a serious look: In May of 2003, an alberta Black angus with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or Mad Cow Disease, was discovered.
In December 2003, a dairy cow with BSE was found in Washington State and traced back to a farm near Edmonton, alberta.
It had been business as usual for Canadian farmers in august 2003, when Uncle Sam was allowing the import of Canadian boxed beef from animals under 30 months to cross the border.
Is it of interest to anyone but the farmers that only after american officials had set March 7 as the resumption of trade in live young cattle and beef products over 30 months in January, that two more BSE-infected cows were discovered in alberta--two weeks apart?
as recently as last month, U.S. agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns confirmed plans for today's reopening, but further delayed trade of beef products from cattle over 30 months.
There can be little doubt that the agriculture Secretary was impacted by the decision of a Montana judge, who ruled on the side of an american rancher's lobby group, Ranchers-Cattlemen action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of america, or R-CaLF.
The group had argued that it would be "insane" to reopen the border to live Canadian cattle under 30 months of age in view of the discovery of two new cases of BSE earlier this year.
With so many Canadian cattle ranchers now poised on the brink of bankruptcy, we now know how banks such as the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce are seizing feedlots for non-payment of debts to the tune of $38 million in the case of one failed farm alone.
We know that for some farmers instead of a dependable cash flow through sales to american packing plants, there's a $50,000-a-day tab to feed animals that can no longer be moved.
We know that some ranchers have been forced to sell their entire herds and have been forced to leave third-generation run cattle businesses.
What we don't know is why no one--including the Canadian government–seems to be looking into how BSE cows keep cropping up on Canadian soil, coincidental to timelines that happen to be crucial.
One doesn't have to be thinking in conspiracy theories to ponder the timing of the May 2003 BSE-infected black angus cow, or even to consider who would profit by a Canadian cattle industry plunged into crisis.
Is the Canadian Liberal government even aware that a well-funded drive for a meat consumption-free society remains in force?
Environmental activist Robert Kennedy Jr., who publicly vowed to rid the world of pork products in 2003, said that beef and chicken were next on his hit list.
CNN founder Ted Turner owns the largest buffalo ranch in the world and restaurants where buffalo is King of Meat. Turner is not the only environmentalist looking at buffalo as a replacement for politically incorrect-beef products.
Then there's the soybean factor.
"In the wake of the Mad Cow disease scare, soy products have benefited from increased demand in affluent countries for meat from cows that are fed soy meal, rather than animal-based feed." (CorpWatch, Dec. 16. 2004).
Major loans made by the International Finance Corp., the private-lending arm of the World Bank to the soy-farming andr™ Maggi group in Brazil, have attracted even larger loans from a plethora of private banks, including the oil-for-food-linked BNP Paribas.
Perhaps it's not crop circles but Mad Cow disease that should be under the global microscope.
What the Canadian cattle industry needs is a team of forensic detectives looking for the reasons why BSE-infected cattle keep cropping up at crucial times in Canada.
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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