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confirmed killed by wolves... the confirmed kills varied from the reported animal deaths and values, which came to 40 animals valued at roughly $40,000. He cautioned people not to draw conclusions about the confirmed numbers, because unconfirmed kills are often those in which the livestock is discovered too late to actually identify, by tracks, tooth marks or other means, the actual cause of death. Their agency is part of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, though they often are mistaken for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is part of the...

Cattle identification can't be ignored, veterinarians are being told this week at the Western Veterinary Conference in Nevada. Soon, packers won't buy cattle that don't have an electronic ear tag, feedlots won't buy cattle without the tags, and stockers won't buy calves without the tags, says Gary Wilson, New Concord, Ohio, co-chairman of the Cattle Industry Identification Working Group. "Eventually, no animals will be purchased unless they are identified. You have to know the source," Wilson said, speaking to a standing-room-only crowd of veterinarians from around the US this week. It goes all the way up and down the chain,...

Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund of the United Stockgrowers of America, Billings, Montana, reported that it has fielded numerous calls from members and media inquiring about recent news reports that indicate byproduct proteins of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy-positive cow discovered in Canada in May 2003 were rendered into livestock feed and may have been mistakenly fed to cattle. R-CALF stated in a release that USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has known of this problem for more than one year. R-CALF cited an APHIS report dated October 3, 2003, as the source of this information. In formal comments to APHIS...