Pig farmer fined for illegal cow feed
ALBERTA - An Alberta pig farmer was fined and his herd culled after it was discovered he was feeding the animals cattle remains.Rene Lieberon was charged under the Livestock Diseases Act, which prohibits food-producing livestock from being fed other such animals. He was fined $2,000.
Lieberon, who runs a farm north of Calgary, said he was unaware that he was breaking any law, criticizing the regulations for being obscure and unknown.
"There isn't a farmer you can talk to that isn't in that situation [unaware of the regulations]. Even if we were told, we probably wouldn't be able to decipher it anyway," he said.
However, Robert O'Neil, who prosecuted Lieberon, said ignorance is no excuse. Further, he said the law is crystal clear.
"And it says thou shalt not feed a dead animal to another food producing animal," he said, emphatically.
Source: CBC Calgary
2 February 2006
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