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U.S. quits quest for mad cow's origins
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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government has given up trying to track the origins of an Alabama cow infected with mad cow disease.
The trail went cold after seven weeks of investigation of more than three dozen farms, the Agriculture Department said in a report issued quietly late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in a separate investigation, the U.S. is tracing 15 cattle imported from Canada that ate the same feed as an infected cow discovered last month in British Columbia. The government has found one cow and intends to kill and test it, the Agriculture Department said.
Though the Alabama probe didn't pan out, USDA official John Clifford said it's important to remember people and animals are protected by a series of safeguards in the United States.
The red crossbreed cow was a "downer," meaning she couldn't walk, when an Alabama veterinarian examined her in late February. Downers are banned from the food supply because they are thought to have a higher risk of being infected with mad cow disease.
That cow became the country's third case of mad cow disease.
Investigators looked at the farms where the cow died and where she was sold in December 2004.
They tracked down 35 other farms she might have come from and did DNA testing to see if she was related to other cows on those farms. They eventually tracked down two of her calves, one that died last year and went to a landfill, and one born this year that is under observation.
Authorities couldn't confirm the cow's age. Experts determined she was 10 or older, but that approximation grows less reliable after a cow is five or six years old.
The cow's age is important because it indicates she could have been infected before steps were taken to safeguard cattle feed.
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