At least 185,000 cattle in the UK alone. Other European countires had cattles deaths but not as many as the UK. The problem that I see here is North America is a total complacency among producers who seem to think that BSE will not affect them. It will always be "the other guy's animals," that become infected. That may well be the case. The problem in Europe was that the authorities did not recognize the problem - especially in the UK - until it was too late. BSE took hold of the National Herd and we all know what happened there. The problem appears to be rampant here also where the so-called authorities are concerned. The CFIA and USDA are both guilty of ignoring the potential of the problem until other countries slammed their doors shut to Canadian and US exports!! Only then did they wake up and yet they both still tried to shovel the issue under the rug with stupid moves like that incredible one that labelled all product free of SRM's to be considered safe!! What a total smoke job that one was and still is!! And, for those who will argue in their favor, let us also recall that although the feed ban was implemented, they still allowed the feeding of ruminant material, including SRM to chickens and hogs and then, if that was not a killer decision, they also allowed the feeding of Chicken and Hog remnants to cattle thus continuing the cycle all over again!!!!
But hey, let's not also forget the fact the the USA has, on average, about 300,000 downers per year! Has anyone considered them as having PrPsc??? Prior to 1997, I doubt that too many of them were even tested let alone considered to have BSE.