When Major, a 12 year old lion at the Newquay Zoo in
southwest England, died recently, an autopsy revealed that
had feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE), the cat form of
mad cow disease.
Mike Thomas, managing director at the zoo, said the lion
must have caught the disease from eating the brains and
spines of cattle, ?so poor old Major must have caught the
disease at another zoo. We don?t feed brain and spinal
column?our lions are fed on rabbits?whole rabbits.?
Major was the 2nd lion in Britain to get FSE, but so far 85
house cats have been diagnosed with it since 1990. Three
cheetahs, three pumas, three ocelot and two tigers have also
developed the disease, which causes cats to stagger and
become confused and disoriented.
Scientists says it?s difficult to guess how many cats could be
harboring the disease. Infected pets are not dangerous to
their owners. ?The real problem is the food chain,? says
Thomas, ?in that if people eat infected beef then that passes
it on. They are not going to eat a lion or a domestic cat.?
Some researchers say they believe domestic cats can get the
disease from eating meat-based pet food, which may contain
the same infected meat and bone meal that helped spread
mad cow disease among cattle.
Britain banned the use of bone meal in pet food in 1991 and
France did the same thing earlier this year. The European
Union has ruled that pet food can be made from animals
which are free of the disease and have had the high-risk
parts removed.
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