More than 1,500 German farmers and animal-lovers protested Wednesday against the destruction of a herd of cattle after one of the animals was found to have mad cow disease, officials said.
Snowballs flew and firecrackers were thrown at Pilsach in the Oberpfalz district of Bavaria as the 62 cattle were taken away.
The demonstrators demanded that only animals of the diseased cow's own age, and those from the generations immediately before and after it, be destroyed, rather than whole herd.
The destruction of a herd of 270 cattle at Notrup in Lower Saxony also began Wednesday after the disease was found there too.
German consumers, butchers and farmers have been shaken by the discovery in German-born cows for the first time of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Since November 24 seven cases have been confirmed, one in Schleswig-Holstein, five in Bavaria and one in Lower Saxony.
Agriculture Minister Karl-Heinz Funke and Health Minister Andrea Fischer have come under heavy criticism for their handling of the crisis, but government spokesman Bela Anda reiterated Wednesday that Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder planned no cabinet reshuffle -- BERLIN (AFP)
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