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 The news, however, helped boost U.S. cattle prices.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said no part of the
animal, a beef cow from Alberta, had reached the human food or
animal feed systems.
Mad cow disease, formally known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy
(BSE), is a progressive, fatal neurological disease. It is thought
that the disease can be transmitted to people from food made from
cows sick with BSE.
"The CFIA is seeking to confirm the age of the animal, its history
and how it became infected. The investigation will focus in on the
feed supplied to this animal during the first year of its life," the
agency said.
Canadian exports were badly hit in 2003 after the first case of BSE
in Canada was detected. Canada subsequently tightened its controls,
and many nations have since resumed the beef trade with Canada,
despite the discovery of more cases since then.
Asked whether he was concerned about exports being harmed,
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told reporters in Calgary: "Not at
this time, no."
He added, however, that markets in South Korea and Japan were
generally very concerned about the potential risk from BSE.
A fresh discovery of BSE may not close borders to beef, given the
tougher measures, but it could delay Canada's efforts to upgrade its
international risk status from the World Organization for Animal
Health (OIE).
An OIE spokeswoman said the discovery and reporting of the case
showed the surveillance system was working. She said Canada had a
"controlled risk" status, which would not be endangered by the
discovery.
A CFIA official told reporters that Canada would not be allowed to
upgrade to the "negligible risk" status unless it could prove that
any diseased cow found was at least 11 years old. He said the agency
was still investigating the cow's age.
Ritz said Canada's current OIE risk status meant it could report up
to 12 outbreaks in a calendar year.
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On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the news initially helped drive
up live cattle contracts for delivery beginning this spring by as
much as 2 percent.
The market rallied in part because of the prospect of less beef
coming across the border, said Joe Ocrant, president of Oak
Investment Group in Chicago.
BSE is believed to spread when cattle eat protein rendered from the
brains and spines of infected cattle or sheep. Canada banned that
practice in 1997.
The CFIA tightened feed rules in 2007 and said this should help
eliminate the disease nationally within a decade, although the
agency said it still expected to discover an occasional new case.
Dave Solverson, president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association,
said that in previous outbreaks there had rarely been more than one
infected animal on an individual farm.
"It's very unlikely there will be more cases found," he told the
Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
($1=$1.25 Canadian)
(Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris, Randall Palmer in
Ottawa and Theopolis Waters in Chicago; Editing by W Simon, J Benkoe,
Tom Brown and Leslie Adler)
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