USAHA News Alerts

1. Idaho Investigating Possible Case of Bovine TB
Matt Davenport
KPVI.com
July 2, 2008

The state of Idaho is investigating what could be a case of bovine tuberculosis. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported on Tuesday that they are looking into dairy bulls that were imported to Idaho from California that may have been exposed to bovine TB.

Full text:
http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=8608178

2. A Meeting of Minds on the Welfare of Beef Cattle
JAVMA News
July 15, 2008

Cattle roaming the range are the iconic image of the American West, but a recent video of abusive animal handling at a California slaughterhouse has increased public scrutiny of the lives and deaths of beef and dairy cattle.

The Beef Cattle Institute, which Kansas State University founded in August 2007, had planned the International Symposium on Beef Cattle Welfare as its kickoff event long before the headlines. The AVMA became a meeting sponsor because its Animal Welfare Committee recognized a paucity of forums for rational discussion of beef cattle welfare.

The May 28-30 symposium attracted hundreds of participants-including veterinarians, producers, and academics-to examine the welfare of beef cattle relevant to weaning, castration, dehorning, transport, feedlots, slaughter, and other situations.

The presymposium sessions featured a cattle handling demonstration and producers' roundtable. The meeting's keynote speakers described the beef cattle industry in Europe and New Zealand (see sidebar). Other speakers addressed welfare challenges for the U.S. beef cattle industry, welfare guidelines and legislation in this country, methods of assessing pain and distress in cattle, and approaches to welfare concerns.

Dr. Ken Odde, head of the K-State animal science department, said during his opening remarks, "I think this conference is particularly timely because animal welfare is clearly not just an important issue but, I believe, a growing issue in animal agriculture."

[The article contains an overview of all presentations made at the Symposium.]

Full text:
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/jul08/080715a.asp

3. Planning helps officials to combat potential agroterrorism [NM]
Chelle Delaney
Quay County Sun
July 2, 2008

They picked a worse case scenario.

A FAD, or foreign animal disease, that could possibly be introduced into the U.S. and more specifically into Quay County.

They were the local, state and neighboring livestock, law enforcement and emergency responders who might be called into action if a FAD such as foot and mouth, anthrax or some other disease might be discovered in Quay County.

Organized by Keith Henderson, Quay County Emergency Manager, the tabletop agroterrorism exercise was also attended by officials from Curry, Harding, Roosevelt and Union counties.

Ever since 9-11, city, county, state and federal officials have been organizing such sessions to have a plan of action in case of agroterrorism, or if there were cases such as hoof and mouth disease that occurred in the United Kingdom last year, said Billy Dictson, director of the Office of Biosecurity at New Mexico State University's College of Agriculture and Home Economics.

Dictson and Jeff Witte, director of Agriculture Biosecurity, New Mexico Department of Agriculture, Southwest Border Food Safety Defense Center, have conducted sessions like this in New Mexico and in other states so that emergency teams would have some idea what they might encounter.

They talked about the financial and economic impact of such a disease. But important is the aspect of containing, tracing back and forward, and eradicating, said Jeffrey S. Phillips, training and exercise coordinator for Tetra Tech, a security services group based in Santa Fe.

Some diseases could have many implications such as the eradication of animals, where and how the carcasses could be burned and buried, how workers and equipment would be decontaminated and with what types of solutions.

Quay County has the beginnings of a plan in the event of agroterrorism, but the tabletop exercise will help to flush it out and add other measures and scenarios in the event of an emergency, Henderson said.

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/5ax42d

4. R-CALF adds to challenge of OTM rule
Feedstuffs
July 2, 2008

R-CALF announced Wednesday it has filed an additional legal challenge to the U.S. Department of Agriculture rule allowing Canadian cattle older than 30 months (OTM) to be imported into the U.S. Ten other plaintiffs joined R-CALF in asking the District Court of South Dakota to consider the latest case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a five-year-old cow from British Columbia when ruling on an injunction to block USDA's rule.

The rule, which took effect Nov.19, 2007, allows cattle born in Canada after March 1, 1999, to be imported into the U.S. In its new notice to the court, R-CALF pointed out that half of the BSE cases detected in Canadian-born cattle have been in cattle born after March 1, 1999. R-CALF charged that USDA's conclusion that the Canadian feed ban was effective in stopping the disease is "speculative and inconsistent with available information." The court filing pointed out that the latest BSE-infected animal "could have been imported into the U.S. before it died and was determined to have BSE," bringing the "imminent threat of substantial, irreparable injury" to the plaintiffs unless the court grants a preliminary injunction.

R-CALF told the court that recent massive street demonstration against U.S. beef in Korea could now be viewed "with the knowledge that two of the three BSE cases discovered since the challenged rule went into effect could have been imported legally into the U.S. from Canada under the challenged OTM rule before they succumbed to BSE."

Source: http://tinyurl.com/5s3o7v

5. Maryland Deer Test Negative For Chronic Wasting Disease
Deer population Disease-Free for Six Consecutive Years
Maryland DNR Press Release
July 2, 2008

ANNAPOLIS - Samples collected from more than 900 deer during the 2007-2008 Maryland deer hunting season showed no signs of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Recent laboratory test results confirmed no evidence of the disease in brain and lymph nodes collected from 983 deer. Additional samples from sick or injured deer also showed no signs of the disease. During the past six years, over 4600 Maryland deer have been tested and were CWD-free.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) biologists collected brain and lymph gland samples during the state's 2007-08 muzzleloader and firearm deer hunting seasons across every Maryland county.

"This is great news for Maryland hunters, landowners, farmers and anyone who has an appreciation for a healthy, sustainable deer population," Assistant Deer Project Leader George Timko said. "Critical to the success of this project was the cooperation of our many partners in federal, state and county government, as well as private landowners and farm managers. All of these individuals played an integral role in gathering the data that contributes to our informed response on this issue."

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/3g7pjs

6. Horse owners urged to have animals vaccinated [FL]
Associated Press
Miami Herald
July 2, 2008

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida's agriculture commissioner is urging horse owners to have their animals vaccinated as the number of confirmed Eastern Equine Encephalitis cases is on the rise.

Commissioner Charles Bronson said Wednesday that 45 cases have been confirmed in the first six months of 2008 in Florida, compared to just 11 during the same period last year.

Full text:
http://www.miamiherald.com/775/story/591155.html

7. Foot & Mouth Disease, Bovine - Venezuela
ProMED-Mail
July 2, 2008

Date: 28 Jun 2008
Source: Eldiariodeguayana.com [translated by Mod.JG, edited]
http://www.eldiariodeguayana.com.ve/content/view/38800/68/

SASA confirmed an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Sifontes
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Dr. Katthywana Araque, Epidemiology Chief of SASA, the Autonomous Service for Animal Sanitation (according to its Spanish initials: Servicio Autonomo de Sanidad Animal), confirmed the occurrence of
[type] A virus, which, together with [type] O virus, accounts for cases occasionally detected in Venezuela.

After the laboratory diagnosis, SASA received a confirmatory report indicating that the problem observed in some cattle herds from 7 farms in Tumeremo is foot and mouth disease (FMD). It was indicated that the
virus is controlled and a quarantine has been established, and also sanitary surveillance activities in the affected area are being carried out.

We contacted Dr. Katthywana Araque, Epidemiology Chief of SASA, byphone, and she confirmed the occurrence of FMD caused by virus A. She pointed out that this A virus, together with the O virus, correspond to viruses occasionally detected in Venezuela. She said that "it is a manageable virus, and we have been acting properly since the problem was detected. Even though we suspected that this was not FMD, we did not make any announcement until having the laboratory test results. The affected area is under quarantine and every specifically indicated sanitation measure has been implemented and applied. The sanitation procedure executed form the very 1st moment when the virus occurred, the fact that affected animals are recovering indicates that the virus is under control."

When Dr. Araque was asked about the origin of the outbreak, she said that the investigation is to be completed, but she indicated that there may have been some kind of failure in vaccination.

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/4l7cly