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Article: USDA Looks for Imported Tenrecs Due to Foot-And-Mouth Disease Fears.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- June 5, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Chicago Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Rudolph Bush
Jun. 5--The tiny black-and-tan creatures curled up on a bed of wood shavings and peat in a Skokie storefront might be the cutest things this side of a hedgehog.
So how did they cause so much trouble?
The tenrecs, as the animals are called, set off a flurry of alarms within the federal government, where agriculture officials fear they are potential carriers of the foot-and-mouth disease that devastated Britain's livestock last year.
About 100 of the animals were shipped from Madagascar through Miami in early May and were bought by pet shops and exotic-animal exhibitors across America, sparking a nationwide search by ...