California beefs up security as British outbreak worsens

Still, in a state where agricultural pests such as the glassy winged sharpshooter, the red imported fire ant and several nasty types of fruit fly are constantly assaulting crops, leaders are quick to call for action when a new threat is on the horizon.

Fears in California were stoked Thursday when the British government announced plans to slaughter up to 100,000 animals that may have come in contact with the virus. More than 200,000 British sheep, cows and pigs already have been killed or marked for death.

"California has not had a case of (foot-and-mouth) since 1929. We've been vigilant against this disease for a long time," said California Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman Steve Lyle.

For years, the state's farmers and ranchers regularly have invited veterinarians to look at sick animals, whether or not foot-and-mouth disease is suspected, and every cow imported into the state carries an ear tag with information about where it came from to help officials track outbreaks.

It's a minor inconvenience for farmers trying to protect a $4.1 billion dairy industry with its 1.5 million cows. Ranchers in the state's $1.2 billion beef cattle industry also allow regular inspections.

Last year, the state spent $5.6 million for livestock disease prevention. The state also has a trained cadre of about 25 University of California, Davis, veterinarians and a system of diagnostic labs that are part of an informal network of people constantly inspecting animals, participating in mock disease outbreaks and sharing information about animal health, said Dr. John Kirk, a UC vet working at the Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center in Tulare County.

Additionally, since the recent worries over the British outbreak, some farms and ranches have closed their doors to foreign visitors altogether. Harris Ranch, about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco on Interstate 5, has stopped allowing tours at its feedlot. The ranch can hold up to 100,000 head of cattle and an outbreak would spread swiftly through the tightly packed herd.

Other farmers don't seem too worried about the possibility of the virus spreading into the state from overseas.

"I think the public is getting a little bit too excited about this," said Bram Van't Zelfde, owner of the 1,000-cow B & G Dairy near Visalia.

Van't Zelfde is being extra vigilant when he checks his herd, but likely still will allow foreign visitors if they've been in the country for more than five days or agree to wear plastic bags over their shoes.

"It is pretty scary because we could lose our herds overnight, but I don't think we have to worry to the extent that we have to start rejecting people off our places," he said.

International travelers from countries with infected herds also are still welcome at airports in San Francisco and Los Angeles, but can expect to have their luggage inspected and their shoes washed down.

This procedure has been going on for several years, but the inspections are more intense since the massive British outbreak last month.

"We have the largest ag economy in the country, so we have a tremendous amount to lose," the CDFA's Lyle said.

A study by Lovell S. Jarvis of the UC Davis Department of Agricultural Resource Economics shows a foot-and-mouth outbreak in California would cost $6 billion to $14 billion to eradicate.

The disease is highly contagious and often fatal to cloven-hoofed animals such as cows, sheep and pigs. The only way to wipe it out is to destroy all the afflicted animals.

Humans aren't sickened by the virus, but can carry it and infect animals with which they come into contact.

"No one should be panicking at this time. I'd like to think the chances of an outbreak here are extremely rare and our procedures for preventing the importation from Europe are good," said Dr. John Maas, a UC Davis vet and chairman of the Cattle Health Committee for the California Cattlemen's Association.<