The discovery of a tuberculosis-infected cow near Riding Mountain National Park comes as no surprise to the president of the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association.
Martin Unrau said that the association first heard about a suspected case in a herd near Grandview, on the north side of the park, a few weeks ago and had been awaiting final confirmation on the case from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“In a way we’re surprised that there’s another cow out there that has got TB, but we’ve been finding elk every year with it,” said Unrau, who added that three elk tested positive for the disease last year.
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The CFIA reported late last week that a five-year-old cow had been discovered in a herd of 240 cattle within 10 kilometres of the park boundary.
Given the continued presence of TB-infected elk, cattle producers in the area felt it “was only a matter of time” before it was passed on to their herds, said Unrau.
“We think the park has been irresponsible in dealing with TB in the wildlife. We feel that producers around the park have been unfairly treated because of the way the disease has been allowed to run rampant,” he said.
Parks Canada’s policy of catching and testing 150 elk per year and culling positive animals is not enough to get rid of the problem, which has dogged producers for decades, he said.
The infected animal was discovered within the Riding Mountain eradication area during routine testing of 200 herds in March.
After results for the cow came back suspicious, according to a CFIA news release, the animal was ordered destroyed and tissue samples were sent to an Ottawa lab. Bovine tuberculosis was confirmed May 1.
All animals in the herd that were exposed to the disease will be destroyed and compensation paid to the owner, according to a CFIA statement.
Negotiations over compensation are touchy, said Unrau, because cattle prices have lately been depressed by low red meat prices, the high Canadian dollar and a glut of animals going to market as farmers with mixed operations sell off their herds and tear up pasture to cash in on higher grain prices this year.
“Obviously, cattle prices are not at the top of where they should be, so we’re not sure how this is going to work out,” said Unrau.
Manitoba’s last case of bovine TB was reported in March 2004, the CFIA said.
Bovine TB poses no health threat to the public, CFIA said, due to safeguards in place in the food safety system.
The disease affects mainly ruminants, including cattle, bison, goats, sheep, elk and deer, but can affect all mammals, humans included.
Human infection with bovine TB would come from prolonged, close contact with an infected animal or from consuming an infected cow’s unpasteurized milk, CFIA said.
