The mystery of the poisoned cows has finally been solved.
To recap -- Earlier this month several cows belonging to Washington dairy farmer John Koopman suddenly became ill. Some of the cows died. Thousands of pounds of milk had to be destroyed.
Koopman would like to know who killed his cows. So would the federal Food and Drug Administration, the King County Sheriff's Office and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force.Teams of federal investigators were on the case.
A task force of federal investigators -- including members of the FBI, Food and Drug Administration, Agriculture Department and the Department of Homeland Security -- joined local sheriff's deputies and local and state health and agriculture officials to investigate the poisoning incident.There was a raid
FBI agents raided a house in Algona Thursday looking for clues to the poisoning of dairy cows at the Koopman's Dairy in Enumclaw.The federal investigators concluded that the cows had been poisoned by an oxidizing chromium compound. The man whose house was raided had years earlier pleaded guilty to illegal storage of the same chromium compound. He is also a friend of the cows' owner. The implication is all but obvious, but no motive is apparent.
...
FBI agents seized weapons and materials from the home, but they aren't saying specifically what they found.
Fortunately, the mystery is now solved. There were no criminals or terrorists involved, only a careless farmer:
Three weeks of federal investigation — including an FBI raid of an Algona man's home — appear to have ended, narrowed to a canister of toxic material that was stored above where rancher John Koopman feeds his cattle. The substance apparently corroded through the container and dripped onto the cows, according to the FBI.Yes it's odd that Koopman would keep deadly poisons where he feeds his cows. But why should it have taken a sizeable inter-agency terrorism task force three whole weeks to figure this all out? Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 28, 2004 01:02 PM
this is really a funny story, if it didn't involve agencies we are relying upon to keep this country safe!
Posted by: dinesh on June 28, 2004 01:26 PMit's a moooot point.
I recommend James Herriot's books. This stuff happens.
Posted by: Bleeding heart conservative on June 28, 2004 03:44 PMThere's a reason that local LEOs roll their eyes anfd groan 'here come the feebs' when the FBI shows up.
Posted by: Peter on June 29, 2004 05:10 PMNote that they couldn't resist calling Chromium 6 a 'known carcinogen', even though the only supposed link to cancer is if it is inhaled over a period of many years; there is nothing at all to suggest that it is a carcinogen when ingested (as it presumably would be if any got into the milk), and lots of experimental data suggesting strongly that it is not a carcinogen when ingested.
Posted by: Zev Sero on June 30, 2004 04:54 PM