Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Disease Forces Government to Slaughter Rancher’s Cattle
A Starr County rancher is without his herd of cattle. The government ordered them sold and slaughtered to keep a disease from spreading to other cattle or people. Eight of the 38 head of cattle tested positive for bovine brucellosis. It's a potentially deadly disease that took the government about 80 years to get rid of. It came back. This time, they weren't taking any chances. Silence fills the air on this Starr County ranch. The corrals sit empty, no bulls, cows or calves. All of Ernesto and Abbie Vela's livestock are gone, slaughtered by order of the Texas Animal Health Commission. "All the cattle, even the ones that tested negative. The explanation they gave me is that since they were offsprings from the other cattle and the bull, they had to destroy all of them," says Starr County rancher Ernesto Vela...more
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If you think this was outrageous, which it is, wait until foot and mouth disease hits the west coast and spread east ward. When Homeland security gets thru we won't have anything, but horses to eat, of which we have plenty.
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