Tuesday, October 17, 2006

The Truth About Vermont's "Mad Sheep"

Remember the Vermont sheep that were seized by USDA in 2001 for fears the sheep might have mad cow disease(BSE)? Linda Faillace, owner of the sheep, has written a book, "Mad Sheep: the True Story of the USDA's War on a Family Farm," describing her family's struggles to keep their sheep.

On March 23, 2001, the USDA invaded the Faillace farm with 27 armed federal agents, 13 USDA officials, a bull dozer, an ambulance, and seized 125 Beltex and East Friesian sheep. All the sheep, including the lambs, were taken to Iowa and killed. Even the family dog and llama were surrendered.

In the five years since the Faillace sheep were killed, the USDA has dragged its heels in doing the only test that could conclusively prove the presence of BSE in the sheep’s tissues. The lab that performed the key tests on the Vermont sheep has since been closed down for multiple violations of lab standards. The European Study suggesting that sheep get mad cow disease has since been discredited.

Sheep farmer writes about losing her flock
Buy the book from Chelsea Green Publishing

2 comments:

railtrax said...

I heard about this awful event on Living On Earth this morning (11/19/2006) and was horrified to learn that a government agency which we think we can trust could carry out such a dreadful raid and rely on the test results from one lab which was unreliable to begin with. I sincerely hope the family's suit against the USDA is favorable for them.

railtrax said...

I heard about this awful event on Living On Earth this morning (11/19/2006) and was horrified to learn that a government agency which we think we can trust could carry out such a dreadful raid and rely on the test results from one lab which was unreliable to begin with. I sincerely hope the family's suit against the USDA is favorable for them.