Morton Davis wrote:

> > It looks like the US government is once again doing what it
> > does best, deflecting blame, releasing information before a
> > complete review of the facts. There seems to be a discrepancy
> > over the age and origin of the cow. The US originally quoted
> > slaughterhouse employees as saying that the cow was fully
> > mature, maybe 9-12 years old, but then released information
> > from the farm where it was raised that indicated it was 4 years
> > old. Meanwhile, the Canadian tag relates to a 6 year old
> > animal.
> >
> > The cow also had an brucellosis vaccination ear tag, which
> > would indicate that it had been raised in the US because Canada
> > eradicated the disease in the 80s.
> >
> Could have gone from the USA, to Canada and back.

It could also have contracted it in the US. What it could not do is
to be 9-12 years old, 4 years old and 6 years old all at the same
time. Considering that there is a huge age gap between the two
figures the US government provided, not to mention the difference
with Canadian records, it seems to me that the prudent thing to do
would be to make sure of the facts before blaming someone else.