Canada kills 1,700 ‘mad elk’

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A chronic wasting disease is spreading quickly through Canada’s domesicated elk populations, forcing a Canadian agency to order 1,700 of the animals slaughtered.

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The elk were being bred on Saskatchewan farms for human consumption of their meat and immature antlers, used for a health-food supplement known as “velvet antler.”

The order comes in the wake of a directive from the World Health Organization stating that products from any animal carrying anything resembling mad-cow disease must not be consumed.

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