A worldwide foot-and-mouth disease scare will take away a Veishea tradition that ranks among cherry pies and food vendors on Welch Avenue during this spring’s celebration.

One of Veishea’s major attractions, the Dairy Science Club’s fund-raiser IMAC – I Milk A Cow – has been taken off the list of events because animal science professors deemed the large number of international visitors a threat to the animals. No animal science clubs may have animals at Veishea events this year, officials said, to protect the animals from possibly contracting the disease.

Foot-and-mouth disease is active in Europe, the former Soviet Union and some countries in South America, but it has not been in the United States for about 75 years, said Michael Kenealy, university professor of animal science.

And ISU professors want to keep it that way.

“When talking about the number of international people that will come to Veishea, we became very concerned about the exposure at Iowa State,” said Kenealy, faculty adviser for the Dairy Science Club. “The best prevention is always to be prepared, so the decision was made not to mix international people and tens of thousands of people at this time when the world is so unsettled with foot-and-mouth disease.”

Although the decision was finalized Tuesday, some animal science club officers knew beforehand they would have to change their plans for the Veishea events.

“It’s a really great opportunity for the kids that aren’t close to agriculture to get some experience from that, and the older adults enjoy it, too,” said Megan Wonderlich, treasurer of the Dairy Science Club. “It’s kind of sad that we aren’t going to have it again.”

But Wonderlich, junior in animal science, said she understands the animal science department’s decision.

“I think it’s a good thing that they did do this, because hoof-and-mouth disease is a very scary disease, so we need to take all the precautions we can,” she said.

Kenealy said the virus can live on a carrier – which can be a person’s shoes, infected food and even a person’s nasal passages – for six to 10 days, and is easily spread.

“I told the students it’s really based on being very, very careful on biosecurity and also on being good stewards of the animals that have been placed in our care by the state,” he said. “What more horrible thing could you think of as an Iowa Stater than to see on the news that it came here as a part of Veishea at Iowa State?”