BSE animal born after tight controls

One of the four cases of BSE confirmed this week was in an animal born after strict feed controls were introduced in 1996 and early 1997. The six-year- old was from a suckler herd in Monaghan.

The other three cases confirmed by the Department of Agriculture were in 10-year-old dairy cows in Cork and Monaghan and in a nine- year-old dairy animal in Limerick.

These bring the number of cases BSE in 2005 to 15, which represents a fall of over 67% when compared with the equivalent number of cases in 2004 (46 cases).