AR-News: Feds Investigating Dairy Cow Deaths

[jim robertson]

http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?ID=31827

Feds Investigating Dairy Cow Deaths

June 22, 2004

By KOMO Staff & News Services

SEATTLE - Federal agents visited a dairy farm in King County on Monday to 
investigate a report that three cows had died after being exposed to a toxic 
substance.

Ray Lauer, a spokesman for the FBI in Seattle, confirmed the investigation 
but said he could not comment on the ongoing case.

"We're aware of the situation ... but we don't know that much yet," Lauer 
told The Associated Press Monday evening. "We don't know what the cause was 
or what the reason for this was."

Investigators also were working with the Department of Homeland Security, 
the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the state Department of Agriculture 
and Public Health.

John Koopman, the dairy farmer who owns the affected cows, told the AP 
Monday night that he hadn't had any problems on his farm in the past. He was 
reluctant to talk more, saying he'd received multiple calls from reporters.

"Everything is totally chaotic right now," Koopman said. "I know it's a 
criminal investigation and I'm cooperating" with investigators.

Authorities said Koopman's farm is in unincorporated King County near 
Enumclaw, a town about 35 miles southeast of Seattle.

The FBI's Lauer would not say whether the cows' deaths may have been 
terrorism related.

"In terms of the criminal aspect of the investigation, there's nothing to 
report," he said.

King County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said a dairy farmer 
called authorities June 6 after discovering some of his cows had been 
splashed with an unidentified substance.

"It appears to have been a toxic substance," Urquhart said. One cow had to 
be euthanized and federal investigators were contacted, he said.

FBI agents and investigators with the Food and Drug Administration were at 
the farm during the weekend, according to an FDA statement Monday.

"At this point the incident appears to be isolated, involving fewer than 20 
dairy cattle," the statement said.

Tissue samples from a cow that died Saturday were sent to the FDA's Forensic 
Chemical Center, the agency's specialized analytical lab in Cincinnati.

Lawrence Bachorik, a spokesman for the FDA in Rockville, Md., said the 
agency learned of the incident June 15, but he declined to comment beyond 
information stated in the news release.

"We're now investigating. We've been looking into it throughout the 
weekend," Bachorik said.

Both Bachorik and Lauer declined to say whether investigators had identified 
the toxic substance.

Bachorik said not all the exposed animals became sick and no milk from the 
affected animals entered the food supply.

Calls to the Washington state Dairy Federation were not immediately returned 
Monday night.

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