More cattle put into quarantine, but officials ‘optimistic’ worst is over
OTTAWA — The quarantine of cattle in a western Canada bovine tuberculosis outbreak continues to grow, even as no new confirmed cases of the disease have been found.
Officials said Wednesday, however, they are now hopeful that the number of animals quarantined or needing to be destroyed may have peaked.
“There is this cautious optimism which exists that we can actually look at the investigation not spreading too far,” Dr. Harpeet Kochhar, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s chief veterinary officer, said during a telephone briefing.
The number of animals in quarantine has risen to 26,000, up from 22,000 last week.