Accused sheep-napper pleads guilty; other three face pre-trial in February

Sheep photo by Laura Berman, via Montana Jones’ “Save our Shrops” FB page.

According to a Canadian Press story posted yesterday on Global News, one of the four people originally charged in the disappearance of  Linda (Montana) Jones’ 31 Shropshire sheep, has now pleaded guilty to one count of transport or causing to transport and an animal under quarantine. Suzanne Atkinson will be sentenced January 30th.

The sheep in question were removed in April of 2012 from Ms. Jones’ farm near Trent Hills Ontario, while the farm was under quarantine by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Suzanne Atkinson was among four persons charged by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency after the Shropshire sheep were removed in April 2012 while the farm near Trent Hills, Ont., was under federal quarantine by the CFIA.

What’s become of Raw Milk Farmer and Food Rights Advocate Michael Schmidt?

Regular readers of the Bovine may have noticed a dearth of stories about Michael Schmidt in recent months.

The Ministry of Natural Resources’ raw milk raid on Glencolton Farms was breaking news eight years ago in the Owen Sound Sun Times. Photo from Michael’s post-raid news conference.

A couple of weeks ago, the eighth anniversary of the 2006 raid on Michael’s Glencolton Farms passed with no fanfare, no demonstrations, and not even a commemorative post on The Bovine.

Michael Schmidt has just about disappeared from public view. There’ve been no trips to speak at faraway conferences, no rallies of raw milk supporters, no media interviews. It would seem Michael has quite consciously stepped back from his former role in the limelight as a public advocate for raw milk and food rights.

New European Scientific Study on Raw Milk’s Impact on Children’s Health

From The Raw Food World:

“(TRFW News) A large European study led by Professor Erika von Mutius reports that fresh, non-pasteurized cow’s milk actually protects children from respiratory infections, fever and inflammation of the middle ear. The study does acknowledge that untreated cow’s milk could contain pathogenic microorganisms that could pose a health risk, but researchers argue for different processing methods to be used to preserve the protective agents in raw milk.  (1,2,3)

This long-term study explored the role of dietary and environmental factors in developing allergic illness.  The study began with 1,000 pregnant women who were asked to document their children’s diet and health weekly for the first year of life. (1,2,3)