|
* * * * * * * * * *
1. APHIS Administrator Announces Dr. Jack Shere as Acting Chief Veterinary Officer and Veterinary Services Deputy Administrator
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Bulletin
February 8, 2016
Dear Stakeholders:
Today, I am announcing Dr. Jack Shere as acting USDA Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) and Deputy Administrator for Veterinary Services. Acting in these roles, Dr. Shere will lead the program's many employees in protecting and improving the health, quality, and marketability of U.S. agricultural animals, animal products, and veterinary biologics. He will also oversee VS' national and international reference laboratory network.
Dr. Shere is replacing Dr. John Clifford, who is now the Chief Trade Advisor for VS' National Import Export Services, after 12 years as VS' Deputy Administrator.
Dr. Shere joined VS in 1990 as a field veterinary medical officer in Nebraska and Wisconsin and has held many leadership positions since then, including Associate Western Regional Director from 2002 to 2005 and Eastern Regional Director from 2005 to 2013. More recently, Dr. Shere served as VS' Associate Deputy Administrator since 2013.
Beyond the domestic program disease work that is a large part of VS' mission, Dr. Shere has extensive experience with animal disease outbreaks, including salmonella enteritidis, foot-and-mouth disease in England, low pathogenic avian influenza, Exotic Newcastle Disease (END), and highly pathogenic avian influenza. During the extensive 2002-2003 END outbreak in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Utah, Dr. Shere served as the Joint Area Commander and Incident Commander, leading a massive federal and state eradication effort for nine months until the disease was eradicated from the United States.
Dr. Shere received a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry in 1981, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1987, and a Master of Science in Education with a minor in Counseling in 1988 - all from Iowa State University. He received PhD's in Poultry Science and Microbiology in 2001 from the University of Wisconsin. He also practiced veterinary clinical medicine for 3 years in Georgia,
Dr. Shere brings a wealth of veterinary knowledge, skills, and hands-on experience to the VS Deputy position. I am confident that these skills, coupled with his management expertise, will position VS well to not only defend against the many foreign pests and diseases that regularly threaten the United States but to continue our diligent efforts to maintain and open new markets. I also know he intends to focus on and strengthen our domestic programs to further enhance the health and vitality of U.S. livestock.
Kevin Shea
APHIS Administrator
Source:
********
|
|
2. 2016 Equine Disease Forum Advances Equine Health
NIAA News Release
February 8, 2016
The National Institute for Animal Agriculture and the United States Animal Health Association co-hosted The Equine Disease Forum on January 19-21, 2016, in Denver, Colorado. Attendees represented a broad cross-section of equine industry stakeholders including state animal health officials, federal animal health officials, breed organization leaders, equine competition leaders, private practitioners, and equine product companies.
The objective of this unique forum was to provide the latest updates on disease threats to equine health, to identify potential solutions for addressing current risks to equine health, and to enhance equine industry collaboration and communications. Through participation in this Forum, participants gained invaluable insight into various stakeholder views on issues related to equine health.
The forum featured informative presentations, which included: an overview of the roles of federal animal health officials, state animal health officials, and private practitioners in protecting equine health; an overview of the diseases of regulatory importance and industry importance; highlights of diseases with an international threat; an introduction to disease risks of international equine movement; the role of equine traceability in protecting equine health; and the advances in equine biosecurity over the last 10 years. Following the presentations, participants rotated through three breakout discussion sessions: 1) regulatory diseases - equine infectious anemia, equine piroplasmosis, and equine herpesvirus-1; 2) endemic domestic equine diseases - equine influenza, strangles and pigeon fever; and 3) biosecurity and equine movement. The facilitated breakout sessions were designed to stimulate interactive discussions among participants to identify current challenges and to propose recommendations for advancing equine disease control.
The current challenges identified during the forum included: limited regulatory funding and personnel; limited federal authority for equine disease control; lack of consistency across state lines related to disease control and movement regulations; lack of metrics to determine impact of an equine disease; lack of a centralized equine disease database; limited field-level disease outbreak research; limited traceability of equines; limited implementation of biosecurity; the need for advancing equine practitioner involvement; the potential for stakeholder engagement in disease prevention and control; and the challenges of communication within the equine industry.
"Next step" discussions focused on four main topic areas: 1) enhancing communications; 2) moving toward consistency in state regulations; 3) implementing an individual equine identification program; and 4) promoting biosecurity. Additionally, a white paper is being prepared for dissemination to stakeholders. For more information about the forum, including the presentations, visit www.animalagriculture.org/equineforum.
Thanks to the engagement and diversity of the participants, the forum was a productive and successful first step. Through their valued input, participants took an important step in the shared goal of advancing equine health in the United States.
The United States Department of Agriculture, Merial, the Arabian Horse Association, GlobalVetLINK, Merck Animal Health, and Zoetis sponsored the event.
********
|
|
3. Indiana to lift most bird flu outbreak restrictions Feb. 22
Rick Callahan, Associated Press
WISHtv.com
February 8, 2016
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Animal health officials monitoring a bird flu outbreak in southwestern Indiana say most restrictions on poultry in that region will be lifted in two weeks if no additional cases are found.
State Board of Animal Health spokeswoman Denise Derrer said Monday the last positive bird flu case was Jan. 16 in Dubois County, Indiana's top turkey-producing county.
Derrer says if no additional cases are found, testing and surveillance of commercial poultry farms will end Feb. 22 within a 12.4-mile radius around the first farm where the virus was detected.
While those restrictions will be lifted, quarantines will remain in place on the 10 affected farms until they're declared virus-free. More than 414,000 turkeys and chickens were euthanized at those farms to help contain the outbreak of the H7N8 viral strain.
Source:
********
|
|
4. WVU research seeks to slow spread of deadly deer disease
By John McCoy, Staff Writer
Charleston Gazette-Mail
February 6, 2016
Tissue samples taken from hunter-killed deer might just help contain a deadly disease that has been killing whitetails in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.
By analyzing the DNA present in each sample, researchers at West Virginia University hope to discover how deer move across the landscape. Armed with that information, state wildlife officials might someday be able to slow or halt the spread of chronic wasting disease, an always-fatal malady first found in the state in 2006.
At least that's the hope. Amy Welsh, an assistant professor of wildlife and fisheries resources at WVU, said no conclusive findings have been made yet.
"The research is still in its early stages," she said. "We started the project in 2014, and it will run through June 2017."
********
|
|
5. New Mexico Succeeds in Legal Fight to Bar Horse Slaughter
AgWeb.com
February 6, 2016
A court decision will prevent a horse slaughter operation from opening in New Mexico after the state's lengthy legal battle.
A state district judge in Santa Fe granted an order late Thursday that finalizes a settlement reached with the attorney general's office, animal advocates, Valley Meat Co. and other associated businesses.
Valley Meat had sought to convert its cattle processing plant in Roswell to the slaughtering of horses, but the state sued in 2013 in an effort to stop those plans, saying such an operation would violate New Mexico's environmental and food safety laws.
The order and previous rulings from the judge effectively end any chance of a horse slaughter operation opening in New Mexico, said Bruce Wagman, an attorney for the horse advocacy group Front Range Equine Rescue.
********
|
|
6. Judge Denies Bid to Halt Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
By Associated Press
News Radio 1310 KLIX
February 8, 2016
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - A federal judge has denied a request to halt the planned capture and slaughter of bison migrating from Yellowstone National Park.
U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl on Friday turned down an injunction sought by a wildlife advocate and a journalist who sued to gain access to the slaughter program. Federal and state officials plan to kill up to 900 bison this winter through slaughter and hunting. It's part an effort to prevent the spread of brucellosis, a disease carried by many bison.
Full text:
********
|
|
7. Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health; Meeting
Federal Register Volume 81, Number 25 (Monday, February 8, 2016)
Notices
Page 6501
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-02464]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Docket No. APHIS-2016-0007
Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health; Meeting
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of meeting.
SUMMARY: This is a notice to inform the public of an upcoming meeting of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health. The meeting is being organized by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to discuss matters of animal health.
DATES: The meeting will be held February 23, 24, and 25, 2016, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. central standard time.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Marriott Dallas/Addison Quorum, 14901 Dallas Parkway, Dallas, TX 75254.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mrs. R.J. Cabrera, Designated Federal Officer, VS, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 34, Riverdale, MD 20737; phone (301) 851-3478; email: SACAH.Management@aphis.usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health (the Committee) advises the Secretary of Agriculture on matters of animal health, including means to prevent, conduct surveillance on, monitor, control, or eradicate animal diseases of national importance.
In doing so, the Committee will consider public health, conservation of natural resources, and the stability of livestock economies.
Tentative topics for discussion at the meeting include:
Chronic Wasting Disease Program;
One Health
[cir] Zoonotic Diseases,
[cir] National List of Reportable Animal Diseases, and
[cir] U.S. Department of Agriculture Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan;
Scrapie Program;
Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccine Availability;
Emerging Disease Response; and
Comprehensive Integrated Animal Health Surveillance.
A final agenda will be posted on the Committee Web site by February 15, 2016.
Full text:
********
|
|
