Alberta TB Source ?

[Stocker Steve]

I have been following this with interest. The official word is that they don't think they will find the source of infection. This seems a bit odd. Are there a lot of wild animal reservoirs for TB, or a lack of traceability in Alberta?

 

[Nesikep]

there are lots of elk, etc.. guess that's a possibility.. traceability is fine, every animal has an RFID tag when it leaves the farm, and except for the few that lose them it's reliable

 

[Aaron]

Lots of animal reservoirs for TB in AB - elk, buffalo, deer, etc. MN got serious when they had their problems. This country, not so much as it quickly becomes a PR nightmare - euthanizing wildlife in the province with the two most popular national parks.

People say TB can't come from Bambi because he is so special and so is Thumper.

 

[Silver]

They say this was a Mexican strain of TB, makes me wonder if they say that because like Aaron said if it came from wildlife it would be a PR nightmare.
If it was a Mexican strain I suppose it came in on a roping steer from down south that has long since disappeared.

 

[Stocker Steve]

They say this was a Mexican strain of TB, makes me wonder if they say that because like Aaron said if it came from wildlife it would be a PR nightmare.
If it was a Mexican strain I suppose it came in on a roping steer from down south that has long since disappeared.

They also blamed the MN outbreak on a "strain first discovered in Mexico" that may have been imported from Texas...
Only for sure thing is MN DNR likes to use helicopters to cull deer.
Does rodeo stock slip through an RFID crack?

 

[Aaron]

They say this was a Mexican strain of TB, makes me wonder if they say that because like Aaron said if it came from wildlife it would be a PR nightmare.
If it was a Mexican strain I suppose it came in on a roping steer from down south that has long since disappeared.

They also blamed the MN outbreak on a "strain first discovered in Mexico" that may have been imported from Texas...
Only for sure thing is MN DNR likes to use helicopters to cull deer.
Does rodeo stock slip through an RFID crack?

I am guessing it would get a tag at the border, but knowledge of its exact origin or travel before that would be unknown. I place my bets it came from the wildlife. It did in Manitoba and took officials a long time to admit it. They only did when it kept recurring and the BS story couldn't be kept going.

 

[Supa Dexta]

There's also a lot of mexican workers around, so who knows how it got here. If I remember right the original source was owned by a rodeo fella.

 

[Stocker Steve]

They only did when it kept recurring and the BS story couldn't be kept going.

MN usually has multiple stories - - since wild deer are managed by DNR, and farmed deer are managed by Dept of Ag, and no one is sure about the escaped deer. :roll:

There has been more double fencing of game farms since CWD crossed over in the SE part of the state.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I place my bets it came from the wildlife. It did in Manitoba and took officials a long time to admit it. They only did when it kept recurring and the BS story couldn't be kept going.

Did Manitoba do a hard core wildlife cull or just keep skin testing cattle?

 

[Aaron]

I place my bets it came from the wildlife. It did in Manitoba and took officials a long time to admit it. They only did when it kept recurring and the BS story couldn't be kept going.

Did Manitoba do a hard core wildlife cull or just keep skin testing cattle?

If I remember right, they did select testing on just a few elk. Otherwise the majority of the surveillance was on the cattle. You can google "Riding Mountain Manitoba Cattle TB" and find probably 15 years worth of info. I don't know how many cattle producers are left around there - continual testing and government harassment finished most of them.