Ontario Dairy Farmer Michael Schmidt Faces More Controversy
By Jean-Paul McDonald, Farms.com
Already making headlines as an advocate and proponent of unpasteurized or raw milk, Ontario dairy farmer Michael Schmidt is back in the news again. This time, Schmidt allegedly has a connection to a flock of sheep that went missing from an Eastern Ontario farm, where the animals had been under quarantine after two cases of scrapie, (a neurological disease that affects sheep and goats) were confirmed in one deceased sheep; and later, one other sheep was found on the same farm in Northumberland County.
The quarantined sheep went missing from Wholearth Farmstudio, a farm operated by Linda “Montana” Jones, which is a special farm that aims to protect the genetics of heritage livestock – in this case, rare Shropshire sheep. After the first case of scrapie was identified, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) decided to destroy the entire flock at Jones’ farm in order to limit the potential for the disease to spread to other flocks.
The quarantined sheep were illegally removed from Jones’ farm on April 2 2012 and in a statement made Tuesday, the CFIA confirmed that search warrants were executed with regards to the ongoing investigation into the missing sheep. Police and officials from CFIA raided several farm operations with alleged connections to the missing quarantined sheep, including Michael Schmidt’s farm in Durham, Ontario. The other warrants were issued for the properties of Robert Pinnell and Miro Malish.
In June 2012, most of the missing sheep were found on a farm belonging to Miro Malish, just south of Owen Sound, which is about 300 km from where the sheep originally went missing. Malish’s farm is also located about half an hour away from Michael Schmidt’s property. Linda Jones also had her operation raided. Schmidt claims the agency seized cell phones and computers from his Durham farm last Thursday.
Schmidt has declined to comment on the allegations, citing legal reasons, but did add that the evidence was “fabricated” to justify the slaughter of the sheep. “We’re destroying a gene pool here,’’ Schmidt said. According to Linda Jones’ website, she was “alarmed that despite lab results proving her entire flock tested negative for scrapie, CFIA officials have decided to depopulate all of her beloved . . . sheep.”
58 year old Schmidt was convicted in 2011 on 13 offences of selling raw, unpasteurized milk – which is illegal under Canadian health regulations.