The U.S. government has refused the request made by the Belgian government to take two flocks of East Friesian sheep back to Belgium, one of the flock’s owners has told reporters. The sheep supposedly have a form of mad cow disease. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman cited a “conclusive diagnosis” of a form of mad cow disease for the drastic action, said Linda Faillace, who owns one of the flocks in Vermont. The USDA fears that the Vermont sheep may have eaten some contaminated feed in Belgium and wants to take all precautions to keep mad cow disease out of the United States.
“We must consider all of the animals to be diseased or exposed to the foreign TSE (transmissible spongiform encephalopathy) and handle their disposition here in the United States, in accordance with the U.S.'s animal health regulatory system,” Glickman informed the Belgian Embassy in Washington.
Faillace and her husband, Larry Faillace of Warren, Vt., and Houghton Freeman of Stowe, Vt., who together own approximately 350 sheep, have been battling the United States for more than two years to spare their animals’ lives. During this time, the sheep have been under quarantine with no sign of any problems tied to TSE, the owners said.
The U.S. government has claimed that four animals tested positive for a form of mad cow disease. Although government experts said they could not be certain the infection was the deadly disease or a more common sheep ailment, scrapie, they preferred to err on the side of caution.
Faillace said the owners had counted on a reprieve when the Belgian government recently agreed to accept the sheep. Now that the U.S. government has refused that request, Faillace said she would be conferring with the family’s lawyer on what, if any, steps they might still take to save their flocks. The two flocks include 50 imported from Belgium in 1996 and their 300 offspring born in Vermont.
After the government’s announcement, Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Jan Carney issued a warning against eating cheese made from the flocks, namely the Faillaces’ Three Shepherds of Mad River Valley and Freeman’s Northeast Kingdom Sheep Milk Cheese.
Fearful of a backlash against all the state’s cheeses, the Vermont Cheese Council has requested the owners to surrender their sheep and take up the government’s offer of reimbursement.
