Heathrow and sickly British cows

Here is an article from Slate about sickly cows here in Britain.  One very sobering thought about the way air travel (and Heathrow especially) might be part of the picture.  Cows eat leftover airline food (well, I guess someone has to!) and disease can be transmitted from foreign countries via this route. (Now that, more than carbon burden, is a good reason to curb one’s air travel desires!)  But even worse, the comments about the 2001 outbreak of mad cow disease linked to … smuggled cows?  Hello, this is an ISLAND.  I remember this all the time.  It’s supposedly to blame for many of the foibles of the local inhabitants.  But smuggled cows?  Like 1000 lb. slow-moving animals?  The males of which are not actually much threat to a china shop?  Very mysterious.  The article ends by saying the cows just get bad publicity–essentially blaming Britain’s voracious tabloid media.  It is a very strange island-nation.