Second Mad Cow case confirmed

The laboratory in Algete, Madrid, has confirmed the results of the Balearic Institute of Animal Health, which showed that the nine-year-old cow of the Sa Torreta Saura farm in Ciutadella, Minorca, had Mad Cow disease. According to a spokesman from the Balearic ministry of agriculture, the Madrid laboratory yesterday confirmed the suspicions, however, final confirmation will not come until after more exhaustive tests are made at the national reference laboratory at Zaragoza. The cow was born and raised on Sa Torreta Saura. The 45 head of cattle still on the farm have been quarantined until the full analysis process is completed. If the results are confirmed - and the ministry has said that this is what it expects - then the animals will be killed and their carcasses incinerated as specific risk material. The 66 head of cattle on the Santa Eulalia farm of Mercadal, also in Minorca, where the first Balearic case of Mad Cow was found, are due to be put down next week. Farmers and farming organisations have asked the ministry of agriculture not to put down all the animals on the farms in question.