VANCOUVER - The discovery of bovine tuberculosis in a bull will force the slaughter of 470 cattle and has quarantined almost 30 farms in B.C. and Alberta.
The bovine TB was discovered when the bull was slaughtered in August in Quebec.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency senior veterinarian Maria Koller-Jones says the bull was from a farm in the Vanderhoof, B.C. area.
She says the farmer was downsizing and sent about 400 head of cattle to a market in Innisfail, Alta., where they were dispersed to about 20 other farms in Alberta.
Koller-Jones says while it's unlikely those animals have been infected, because they had contact with the bull, they must be slaughtered and tested before the quarantines on the farms can be lifted.
The last case of tuberculosis found in Canadian cattle was in 2004, and Koller-Jones says there will be no cause for concern for cattle exports because the problem is so rare that Canada is still considered to be bovine TB free.
