What is Scrapie? Scrapie is a disease that affects the central nervous system of sheep and goats. It is a fatal disease that has no treatment or cure. Also, it is one of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), which is related to the Mad Cow disease, so it is basically the sheep and goat version of Mad Cow. The disease was first recognized 250 years ago. The first case that was reported in the United States was diagnosed in a flock in Michigan. Scrapie is extremely infectious and contagious in natural conditions and since there is no way of treating it, the affected animals are quarantined and then killed. It can be spread from the affected ewe into her lamb or any other lambing groups that come into contact with the placenta. The problem is that it takes years before the affected animal will show signs of scrapie, and by then, the ewe will have had multiple lambs that also got infected. Some signs of scrapie are a change in behavior, since the nerve cells are damaged. The animal will scratch against something constantly to the point where it would bleed and cause lesions, loss of coordination, it will bite at its limbs, weight loss, loss of appetite, and basically have very abnormal behavior. Why eradicate Scrapie? There are many benefits involved with eradicating scrapie. It increases the health status of the animals and decreases the loss of production. The animals will be healthy and will not have to suffer the horrible disease. Watching the animal have to go through all the discomfort and pain is reason enough to eradicate scrapie. It will be beneficial for them and for the rancher to not have to put the animal down which can result in financial losses. Also, the presence of scrapie in the U.S. also preve... ... middle of paper ... ...ducer buys sheep from is scrapie free, will help eradicate the last of the scrapie cases in the United States and only then will be completely free of the horrible disease. No sheep or goats will have to suffer the disease that drives them into insanity and the producer will save money as well as have a healthy flock that they will not have to worry about being susceptible to scrapie. Works Cited "Scrapie Information." / / Goats, Sheep, Small Ruminants / Agriculture Industry / Animal Industry / Divisions & Offices / Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. "Nebraska Department of Agriculture." Nebraska Department of Agriculture. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. "Your Participation Is Needed Now, More Than Ever — To Reach the Goal of Eradicating Scrapie from the U.S." National Scrapie Educational Initiative. National Scrapie Education Initiative, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
...f Farm Animals as Products, in the Western and Southwestern States and Territories, and in Virginia, and of the Best Routes to and the Cost of Reaching the Districts Described 2nd Ed. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1876. Print.
Hribar, Carrie, MA. Understanding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Their Impact on Communities. Ed. Mark Schultz, MEd. Http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/docs/understanding_cafos_nalboh.pdf. National Association of Local Boards of Health, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. .
In the subsequent essay I will discuss and explain the relative function of the Prion protein. The Prion protein, also known as PrPC, ‘’is a membrane-anchored protein with two N-glycosylation sites and, although it is highly expressed in the nervous tissues, its physiological functions have yet to be well established’’ (Coordination Chemistry Reviews). PrPC/PrP is found in healthy brains in this form, and consists of 250 Amino Acids, yet after a simple misfolding in the secondary structure; this can alienate the PrP and forms PrPsc, which is the abnormal form of the Prion protein. The infectious agent PrPsc causes neuropathological changes in the brain, and instantly places the individual under the category of someone with the prion disease. PrPsc forms insoluble fibres and thus cannot be studied well using Nuclear Mass Resonance (NMR), and it is also more resistant to protease digestion. Furthermore, ‘’ The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) arise from conversion of the membrane-bound prion protein from PrPC to PrPSc, the latter being the scrapie form. Examples of the TSEs include mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, scrapie in goats and sheep, and kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans’’ (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904554/. 2014). The following diagram shows the conversion from PrPc to PrPsc:
Hundreds of thousands of puppies are raised each year in commercial kennels (Puppymills Breed Misery). Puppy mills keep breed stock in horrible conditions for their short lives and produce unhealthy puppies with many issues. Not only are they committing “inhumane care,” but puppy mills are responsible for customer fraud. Many puppy mills are small and contain about twenty breeding dogs in basements, garages, or sheds “in cages stacked to the roof.” The dogs will stay in those cages without “exercise or sunlight.” Also, the dogs have two “litters” a year till about the age five. Other puppy mills contain hundreds of breeding dogs. The operators keep the puppies in “relative darkness” so the puppies seldom cry or draw attention. The dogs in puppy mills rarely receive medical attention. The females are dissipated because of the never-ending period of “producing and nursing litters.” Most dogs have “chronic ailments, rotten teeth, and ear, eye, and skin infections.” Many of the puppies purchased from puppy mills are un-healthy and not well-adjusted. The puppies have a high prevalence of hereditary syndromes and illnesses, and difficulties that occurs following the “purchase.” After the females cannot produce anymore liters...
To show, from A Closer Look At Puppy Mills, “To maximize profits, female dogs are bred at every opportunity with little to no recovery time between litters. When they are physically depleted to the point that they no longer can reproduce, breeding females are often killed” (ASPCA 4). According to, Caesar Milian and Melissa Peltier, animal experts, “lifespan of the breeding dogs is often cut in half.” To add on, the animals are in pens and cages that are not large enough for them. ( What is a Puppy Mill? 6). In the mills the puppies are overcrowded in small spaces. Puppies need the room to exercise and have to room to be comfortable. Moreover, “ In some cases, their matting and confinement are so extreme that their fur actually grows into the cage, pinning the dog in one spot.” Dogs can’t live just sitting in one spot. They do not have room to lie down, exercise, eat, etc. If the dogs even try to move, they can pull their fur out or cause pain. As well, the puppies are removed from their mothers when they are only about 7 weeks old. Then, ten or more puppies are crammed in a small cage to be transported causing the puppies to be scared and have many illnesses or conditions caused by neglect and stress (Puppy Mills, Pet Shops, and the AKC Basic Facts 6). When the puppies are 7 weeks old, they should be with their mother and their littermates. The puppies are still learning at 7 weeks old and they miss out. When they go home with their owners they could end up being nippy or not socializing
Mad cow disease is caused by prions, "weird mutant proteins that are found in brain and spinal tissue"1. Another name for mad cow disease is called bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the definition is "a progressive neurological disorder of cattle that results from infection by an unusual transmissible agent called a prion"2. It started from what is called a prion protein then it turned into a pathogenic, and then it starts to damaged the brain of a cattle. There's another name for this disease and it's called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease "a form of progressive dementia characterized by loss of nerve cells and degeneration of nerve cell membranes leading to the production of small holes in the brain. It is rare, degenerative, and invariably fatal"3. This disease happen in human causing lapses in the memory, mood swings similar to depression, lack of interest and social withdrawal3. It is said that this disease has no tr...
Kellems, Richard O., and D. C. Church. Livestock Feeds and Feeding. 6th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
Chronic Wasting Disease is a highly transmissible, deadly neurodegenerative disease that affects cervids in North America (Belay et al., 2004; Saunders et al., 2012). There are only four types of cervid that are known to get this disease which include elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and moose (Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance). It has been classified has a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), otherwise known as a prion disease (Belay et al., 2004). A prion is an irregular, pathogenic agent that causes abnormal folding of specific proteins called prion proteins. These proteins are mostly located in the brain (Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance). The abnormal folding of this protein causes neurodegenerative diseases in a variety of species including humans, sheep, cattle, and deer (Abrams et al., 2011).
BSE is a prion-based disease where the infectious protein causes other prion proteins in the brain to
Should prairie dogs be protected or exterminated? People around the world are stating prairie dogs should be treasured. However, in the articles, “Denver’s Street-Smart Prairie Dogs,” and, “Prairie Dogs: A Threatened Species or Public Health Nuisance?” provides evidence that prairie dogs should be exterminated from urban areas because of their destructive impact on the environment and how because their population are thriving rapidly they are becoming an inconvenience to humans.
In Alastair Norcross’ paper, “Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases” he describes a situation in which a man, Fred, has lost his ability to enjoy the gustatory pleasure of chocolate due to a car accident. However, it is known that puppies under duress produce cocoamone, the hormone Fred needs in order to enjoy chocolate again. Since no one is in the cocoamone business, Fred sets up twenty six puppy cages, and mutilates them resulting in cocoamone production in the puppy’s brains. Each week he slaughters a dog and consumes the cocoamone. When he is caught, he explains to the judge and jury that his actions are no different from factory farming because he is torturing and killing puppies for gustatory pleasure similar to how factory farms torture and kill cows, chickens, etc. for other people’s gustatory pleasure. You, the reader are meant to think that this is unacceptable, and therefore, denounce factory farming. Although there are many valid objections to this argument, I am in agreement with Norcross and shall be supporting him in this paper. I think the two most practical objections are that (1) most consumers don’t know how the animals are treated whereas Fred clearly does, and (2) if Fred stops enjoying chocolate, no puppies will be tortured, but if a person becomes a vegetarian, no animals will be saved due to the small impact of one consumer. I shall explain the reasoning behind these objections and then present sound responses in line with Norcross’ thinking, thereby refuting the objections.
Puppy mill breeding causes many health problems for the animals involved. Many dogs have illnesses and diseases because of the environment around them. Many puppy mill operators fail to remove sick dogs from the breeding area and cause other animals to become infected as well. There are many diseases dogs while being in puppy mills. Some of theses diseases are heart disease, kidney disease, endocrine disorders, respiratory disorders and many more. The puppies created often arrive in pet stores and homes with diseases as well. (ASPCA)
Not all puppies that come from mills have problems. Since mills are most common, it is important for you to know what may have happened to your puppy in the event that they were born in a mill. Some common things that need attention when it comes to puppy mills include inhumanity, mass breeding, illnesses, and developmental issues. Each of these things affects puppies in a different way.
If these problems could be eradicated it could save a lot of time and money for the farmers. The use of antibiotics and hormones before the livestock actually catches
...ute of Food and Agricultural Sciences." Monroe County Extension Office – Solutions for Your Life - UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. 2011. Web. 19 Mar. 2011.