Sheep farmer fights to save flock from destruction

by SUSAN MANN

Shropshire sheep farmer Montana Jones is exploring legal options to stop Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials from destroying part of her heritage breed flock as early as January.

Forty-four animals on the Hastings-area farm in Northumberland County are considered by the agency to be at high risk of being infected with scrapie and are slated to be destroyed sometime in the new year. Lisa Gauthier, CFIA media relations officer, says by email a specific date hasn’t been set yet.

“When scrapie is suspected or confirmed on a farm, infected animals, as well as those deemed to be at risk of the disease, are humanely destroyed and disposed of,” she says, noting the CFIA’s disease control measures are based on international science-based standards.

But Jones says there’s nothing humane about the destruction of her sheep. After killing the sheep and removing their heads for brain tissue testing, CFIA officials “leave them to me to bury my own dead sheep.”

A fatal disease

Scrapie is a fatal disease affecting the central nervous system of sheep and goats. There isn’t a treatment or vaccine currently available for the disease. It’s a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). Other TSE’s are bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle and chronic wasting disease in deer and elk.

The disease isn’t a human health risk but it does affect the productivity of sheep. Scrapie is a federally reportable disease in Canada meaning all suspected cases must be reported to the CFIA.

Jennifer MacTavish, executive director with the Canadian Sheep Federation, says she can’t comment specifically about Jones’ case because they haven’t been contacted by Jones. All of the information they have about the situation was obtained through news reports. “We have reached out to the producer but have not heard from them.”

But “we’re always concerned about cases of scrapie in Canada,” she says, noting the disease impacts the country’s ability to trade.

The CFIA’s Gauthier says the agency has the endorsement and encouragement of the national sheep and goat industries to pursue total scrapie eradication in Canada.

Shropshires less resistant to the disease

The sheep targeted for destruction on Jones’ farm have a genotype that is considered less resistant to scrapie but that doesn’t necessarily mean the animals would ever get the disease. Her flock was flagged after scrapie was found in a sheep in Alberta that originated from her farm more than five years ago. But Jones’ entire herd has tested negative for the disease using a test that has an 85 per cent accuracy rate.

Fifty sheep on the Alberta farm where the disease was found were destroyed recently.

In the 12 years since Jones has been breeding Shropshires, none of the sheep living on her farm has ever had scrapie and she’s never seen any symptoms of the disease in her flock.

Farm quarantined

Jones’ farm has been quarantined for the past 18 months meaning animals can be sold for meat but she can’t sell the registered Shropshires as breeding stock. There is compensation for the sheep ordered destroyed but the CFIA doesn’t have anything for farmers under quarantine. Jones hasn’t been able to earn money from selling her breeding stock and it was that income she used to pay for her infrastructure plus the animals’ hay and grain. 

There are a total of 75 sheep on the farm with some of them being very small male market lambs destined for meat. If the CFIA proceeds with its plans to kill the 44 sheep, Jones says it doesn’t mean she’ll have “all these sheep left.” In fact, she’ll only have 14 females of her breeding stock remaining.

And the breed, which is close to extinction in Canada, would take a huge hit with only 107 registered breeding females, 16 rams and 38 ewe lambs left.

Jones says her animals are part of a “heritage breed flock with really rare genetics and I can’t turn around and replace them with commercial sheep.”

Jones, CFIA negotiating

Jones’ proposal to the CFIA is to do a five-year survey, quarantine and monitoring program so the agency gets the heads for testing of all the farm’s sheep that die or go to an abattoir for meat. And no sheep will leave the “property except for that.” She’d also want to continue breeding “so I’m still increasing the numbers of the breed and we’ll go from there.”

In turn, the CFIA has proposed that:
•    Jones sign a declaration of an infected place (currently her farm is considered a potential source of infection)
•    The agency would euthanize her 12 rams
•    Remaining sheep that were also identified by the agency for slaughter would be euthanized in two years
•    Jones would have to pay for all testing as well as for cleaning and disinfecting

Jones says she has been given until New Year’s Eve to accept the CFIA proposal otherwise in January she would receive a firm date for when agency officials would kill her sheep. At that point, Jones says she’ll have a lawyer in place and possibly install an injunction.

Another option she’s considering is inviting hundreds of people including media crews on to her farm on the date the sheep will be killed. “Do you think they’d proceed with that with cameras rolling and things? I doubt it.”


Jones has launched a public campaign to save her sheep, including an online petition and requests for donations of money or hay at: shropshiresheep.org . In the week since the petition has been up, 1,800 people have signed. Through Twitter, people have suggested Jones hide her sheep from the CFIA but she responds she won’t.

They’re staying on her farm. “I can protect them better and do more for them here,” she says. BF