Such a practice is dangerous, says Dr. John Twidale of the B.C. Veterinary Medical Association, because it could lead to ground water contamination from the often toxic euthanasia drugs contained within the corpses.

THE PROVINCE Latest News
Carcasses to be sent to Calgary

Charlie Anderson
October 4, 2004

Fraser Valley farmers, unable to dispose of the carcasses of their dead animals, will get some relief this week after an Enderby-based company steps in to transport them out of province.

Greenwave Farms, which already collects dead animals in B.C.'s Interior, will begin operations in the Valley today, trucking the corpses out of province to a rendering plant in Calgary.

The corpses of dead cows and horses have been accumulating over the past few weeks since a policy change by a large rendering company, and public complaints, led to the closure of any facility in the Fraser Valley that would take them.

Greenwave has undertaken to collect the carcasses beginning today and ship them, within three days, to a Calgary rendering plant operated by West Coast Waste Reduction.

The new service will relieve farmers of their only other option -- to bury the carcasses on their farms.

"We're going to try and see if the logistics of it will work," said Ken MacNair, co-owner of Greenwave.

"There will be a few wrinkles starting from scratch down there, but after a week or so, we'll get it all sorted out. It depends on the support of the farmers, whether they want to pay for the service."

Carcasses began piling up after West Coast Waste Reduction changed its Fraser Valley operation in response to the mad-cow disease scare, banning cattle carcasses.

A transfer station, to hold the corpses until they could be transferred to a Calgary rendering plant, was shut down after public protests over the smell.

The only option left to farmers was to bury their dead stock on their own farms. Such a practice is dangerous, says Dr. John Twidale of the B.C. Veterinary Medical Association, because it could lead to ground water contamination from the often toxic euthanasia drugs contained within the corpses.

John Luymes of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries said farmers won't have to put all their hopes on the new service.

Tomorrow the ministry and other groups will examine three proposals from contractors prepared to operate a composting service in the Fraser Valley to take the dead animals.