Scrapie, as a disease of sheep and goats, has been recognized for over 300 yr and was first documented in England in 1730 (1 ). Sheep breeders petitioned the House of Commons of King George II in 1754 requesting the enforcing of regulations governing the sale and distribution of sheep This is believed to have been prompted by a major scrapie epizootic However, the petition was referred to “the consideration of a Committee” and vanished without a trace (2 )-not so different from the present day!