2012 Case Reaches Court, Shepherdess and Farmers on Trial
Montana Jones began her career as a Shepherdess in the hills of Ontario, Canada raising a rare and special breed, Shropshire. She lived the hard life of a famer but enjoyed the idyllic setting and her connection to the animals she loved and the land she lived on. With her only child, her son grown and gone, the sheep became the subjects of her nurturing. She was deeply connected and bonded to them, knowing it was her job to raise them, protect the flock, and breed the best qualities into them she could so the heritage breed would continue strengthening its genetics.
Shropshires are known and respected for their wool, heartiness, gentle demeanor and disease resistance. In her efforts, Montana produced a strong flock of healthy, robust animals.
A few years into her farming adventure, Montana’s dream became a nightmare. Her healthy flock came under the scrutiny of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in 2011 after a sheep that she had sold a few years before, on a farm 300 miles away, tested positive for scrapie. Scrapie is a disease of the central nervous system in sheep and is not transmissible to humans. It is a well-defined disease in sheep with no threat to human health.
None of Montana’s sheep displayed the symptoms of scrapie prior to the 2011 investigation into her flock and the subsequent quarantine order by the CFIA. As the CFIA became more aggressive against her and her sheep, Montana had her entire flock tested by rectal biopsy for scrapie as a precautionary measure and to assure the CFIA that her flock did not have it. All tests came back negative.
Montana and her lawyer made every effort to reason with the CFIA to find another solution rather than slaughter dozens of sheep. She would keep them in quarantine, she offered, so that they could be retested periodically. They would not be a danger to anyone or to any other sheep. They were her life, her livelihood, her everything.
Despite the negative tests and Jones’ request for a different approach, the CFIA agents on the case continued their onslaught against the peaceful shepherdess and her flock of heritage, healthy Shropshire sheep. They issued a kill order.
On the morning of April 2, 2012 they arrived on Montana’s farm to destroy the 44 sheep who carried the “wrong” genotype.
When they arrived, the sheep were gone. In their place was a note that said the Farmers Peace Corp has taken the sheep into protective custody. For the people following the case, this was marked with a sigh of relief–the sheep were safe for the moment. But also marked with the accompanying dread of knowing something worse might come next. For Montana, as a shepherdess, it is her job to protect her flock.
Montana felt a sense of relief that her sheep were protected, and, at least for the moment, living. But mixed with that understandable relief, a deep anxiety: men with guns were there to destroy her sheep, and, in the process, destroy her life. And she didn’t know where the sheep were, or whether the people who had taken them would know how to care for them properly.
The next couple of weeks were a tense time of watching the news, waiting for some sort of turn in the case. The CFIA was after those sheep. They wanted them dead at any cost. And they certainly spared no cost. But now, it seemed it became a case of saving face, an ego-driven case against the shepherdess and the anonymous farmers who saved innocent sheep. The CFIA used helicopters, teams of people to search for the sheep on the ground and in the air.
During this time of search, farmer Michael Schmidt celebrated his 58th birthday on June 13th 2012 by recognizing the outright vindictive, tyrannical nature of this witch-hunt, turned sheep hunt. As spokesman for the previously unheard of “Farmers Peace Corp”, he made a public statement taking about the disappearance of the sheep. Part one. And part two.
When the CFIA eventually found the sheep on the farm of Mirko Malisch it was immediate death for the sheep and simultaneous death of Montana’s dream, and livelihood. All of the recovered sheep tested negative for scrapie after they were killed and their brains were examined—exactly as Jones had predicted. What began as the death of her sheep and dreams, turned into legal torment for her and the other individuals charged in the case.
Since that time in December of 2012, the case has progressed slowly with punitive hearings disallowing Schmidt to travel or Jones to speak to Schmidt or any number of other petty add-ons the CFIA could get away with to further harass the peaceful farmers.
Now, the case is in the preliminary hearing stages. The Canadian Constitution Foundation has been providing legal assistance to Jones and Schmidt. They have set up a campaign to help fund the legal defense of the peaceful farmers.
Now is the time when we can work to set precedent. With a strong legal team, and strong support, we can send a message to the CFIA that we will not tolerate the senseless slaughter of innocent animals and the imprisonment of peaceful farmers. Donate. Share. Watch for updates. We have the capacity to give this story a better ending than peaceful farmers in prison for 10 years.
Liz Reitzig
Wherever you are in your personal journey toward clean living and local food, thank you for joining me in mine. I look forward to sharing it with you.
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What an injustice. Our freedoms are being assaulted, and insane, ignorant authorities in-charge need to step down. Blatant ignorance should never have a place in society. Let alone in a place of authority.
Yes, this case is an example of complete injustice! Please stand with Michael and Montana as they go through this horrible ordeal!
This is a travesty. In the end, the CFIA was operating on full bellies provided by hard working farmers and ego based motives.
You are so right, Katy!
They operate on full bellies while threatening the livelihoods, and indeed lives, of the very people we depend on for food!
What a senseless incredible waste of time, energy, money and vindictive behavior. How much did all of this cost the Canadian Government? Surely there are better ways to focus manpower. Sounds like the Salem witch trials and hunts.I thought that Canadians were peaceful and intelligent people. These people conducting this BS should be fired and their salaries given to people/employees of the Government with some common sense!
“I thought that Canadians were peaceful and intelligent people.” As is the case in the US and every other country, please do not make the mistake of confusing the government with the people. It’s a particularly common mistake in the so-called democratic societies. We have a representative government, but it’s not representing We the People. Agribusiness has a zero tolerance policy for scrapie and hoof & mouth disease. They have tens of thousands of animals in very intensive environments, and they cannot tolerate the possibility of contagion reaching their stressed, inbred and marginally healthy animals. The CFIA represents them, and… Read more »
THIS APPENED TO A FARM IN VERMONT. THEY WROTE A BOOK ABOU THOW I RUINED THEIR LIVES. THEY WERE VERY VER CAREFUL IN BRINGING SHEEP FROM EUROPE AND HAD THEM TESTED PRIOR TO BRINGING THEM. SAME THING. GOVT MOVED IN AND KILLED ALL THE SHPEE. LIFE OF HTE FAMILY WAS HELL. THIS IS NOT NEW.
Hi Jean,
Thank you for your comment.
Yes, you are right. The case in Vermont is such a tragedy. There are many similarities between these two cases. However, the farmers in Vermont were not charged criminally. Montana is being charged criminally, along with two other farmers. This campaign is to help with their legal defense to keep them out of prison. Please consider donating and sharing. Thank you for your support!
This sounds like something hitler would do!
The Canadian government are Bully’s..
How did this get this far to kill healthy sheep, and now these people
that did nothing to hurt anyone, or any Animal might go to jail?
Where was the pro-active people to let this happen?
[…] time away from the farm have marked the past three years for Schmidt and his family. As Schmidt and Montana Jones, who was also charged, weave their way through and around the charges, they are faced with unending […]