LA Times Experts say it was bound to happen: The H5N1 bird flu that ravaged dairy herds in 13 states was inevitably going to arrive in California.
But exactly how it happened is still being investigated by the state.
However, Anja Raudabaugh — the chief executive of Western State Dairies, a trade organization for California dairy farmers — was able to confirm one of the stories that has been circulating.
At the end of July or early August, a dairy farmer in Tulare County reportedly sold some of his cows to a farmer in Idaho, which had been reporting infected cattle herds since early April.
The farmer in Idaho was not satisfied with the California cows and shipped them back, according to the story.