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1. Fauquier County, Virginia, Training Facility Quarantined
By Edited Press Release
TheHorse.com
March 2, 2016
A Thoroughbred training facility in Fauquier County, Virginia, has been quarantined after a horse previously residing there tested positive for equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) in Florida.
On the evening of Feb. 29, the state veterinarian's office at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) received notification from the Florida state veterinarian's office that a Virginia horse recently relocated to Martin County, Florida, had tested positive for EHV-1. The animal's clinical signs were consistent with equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM, the neurologic form of EHV-1). The index horse was placed in isolation early in the day and the Florida facility was placed under quarantine.
An investigation revealed that the index horse was shipped from the Virginia Thoroughbred training facility to Florida on Feb. 22. As such, the VDACS placed that training facility has under quarantine, and all exposed horses are being monitored twice daily for fever (a temperature over 101.5�F) and other clinical signs. To date, no exposed horses in Virginia have shown clinical signs of disease or been febrile, but the monitoring will continue throughout the quarantine period. In addition to the horses exposed at the training facility, the investigation has revealed only one other exposed horse that traveled out of state.
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2. APHIS Sets Reimbursement Deadline for SECD Diagnostic Submissions
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Bulletin
March 2, 2016
WASHINGTON - In June 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a Federal Order for monitoring and managing novel swine enteric coronavirus diseases (SECD) and provided $26.2 million in emergency funding to support these efforts. This emergency funding is projected to be exhausted in approximately two months.
In anticipation of depleting these funds, APHIS will pay for testing of SECD diagnostic samples received on or before April 30, 2016 and billed to APHIS' Veterinary Services (VS) program prior to June 30, 2016. Swine operations may continue to conduct diagnostic sampling after this date, but we will not provide reimbursement for the testing.
On January 16, 2016, VS issued a revised SECD Federal Order to extend the availability of emergency funds for diagnostic testing and reporting through the winter season. To maximize these resources, VS eliminated the requirement that a herd management plan be developed for herds meeting the case definition for SECD. Payments to veterinarians for completion of herd plans and payments to producers for biosecurity practices (truck washing and disinfection) were also eliminated.
VS will be engaging in discussions with stakeholders to determine the future of the SECD program. These discussions will include how SECD fits into the future of comprehensive and integrated swine surveillance and other swine health activities.
Instructions for National Animal Health Laboratory Network Laboratories will be provided separately by the NAHLN Office. Until notified otherwise, reporting by NAHLN laboratories will be required.
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3. US tells Canada to fix concerns about meat safety or face possible export restrictions
By Leslie Young, Investigative Reporter
Global News
March 1, 2016
American inspectors have given Canada's Food Inspection Agency until mid-March to fix concerns about meat inspection and safety in Canadian plants, or face possible consequences for future meat exports.
Inspectors from the American Food Safety and Inspection Service audited Canada's meat, poultry and egg products inspection system in 2014, and identified a number of issues which, if not corrected, would affect Canada's ability to export these products to the United States. The report was published and presented to CFIA in mid-January, giving the Canadian agency 60 days to correct the problems.
Checking for contamination
Notably, the auditors objected to how pork and beef was tested for residual feces, milk and digestive materials at two Canadian slaughterhouses. Although Canadian inspectors also have a zero-tolerance policy for the presence of these materials on meat, they test the meat after it has gone through a final carcass wash.
The U.S. inspectors would prefer that the meat be tested for these materials before the final carcass wash, "primarily because this point best presents the opportunity for the in-plant inspectors to observe visible fecal material, ingesta, or milk contamination." The carcass could be contaminated before the wash, according to the U.S. report, and they question the adequacy of CFIA's inspection procedures to detect it.
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4. $1.6 million approved for study of new SD animal lab
By Bob Mercer, Journal correspondent
Rapid City Journal
March 1, 2016
PIERRE -- The funding for a study on designing a modern diagnostic laboratory on animal diseases in South Dakota received final approval Monday from the Legislature.
The state Senate voted 35-0 for the appropriation of $1,575,000. The legislation, HB 1080, now goes to Gov. Dennis Daugaard for his review.
The House of Representatives previously approved the funding 66-2.
Officially the legislation calls for expansion and upgrade of state lab facilities, which are dated and so small that some researchers work in closets.
The money is in place from a livestock disease-testing fund, Sen. Gary Cammack, R-Union Center, said. Cammack described the state laboratory at Brookings as "the firewall" against catastrophic livestock disease.
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5. Kraft Heinz joins cage-free eggs movement
Written By Bill Ruminski
Chicago Sun-Times
March 1, 2016
Kraft Heinz Co. plans to use only cage-free eggs in its North American operations by 2025.
The company, with headquarters in Chicago and Pittsburgh, said Tuesday the change is part of its efforts to improve sustainability.
"Making the move to source our eggs exclusively from cage-free hens builds on progress made by both Kraft and Heinz in previous years and reinforces our continuing pursuit of animal welfare improvements throughout our supply chain," Senior Vice President Michael Mullen said in a news release.
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6. Efforts Underway in Montana to Increase Bighorns' Range
By Michael Wright, Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Flathead Beacon
March 1, 2016
QUAKE LAKE - The sheep started down the mountain, tan bodies in a single-file line against a snow-covered slope at the southern end of the Madison Range. Another group came from the east, Quake Lake beginning at their backs, and they met at the edges of a net suspended by poles, hay on the ground beneath it.
Across from them, near a cabin, stood about 50 people who had just stopped talking. The moment was coming, and they were not to disturb it with idle chatter. They were mostly volunteers, there to help Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks gather biological data and load about 20 sheep onto a trailer that would take the animals to a release site for the second time in as many years.
This was round two of FWP's efforts to move sheep from this population - known colloquially as the Quake Lake herd - to the Wolf Creek area, a place about 15 miles north where the department wants to restore the animal. The agency moved about 50 between the two spots last year. Many of those returned to the Quake Lake area, but biologists saw some successes. Sheep explored new areas, a few stayed near Wolf Creek and some went back and forth between there and Quake Lake.
Biologists hope sending another batch to Wolf Creek this year will boost their efforts at restoring the animal to more of its historic range. By 2020, FWP is supposed to have restored five new "viable and huntable" populations of bighorn sheep, a goal set in 2010. Quentin Kujala, FWP's wildlife management section chief, said they "really haven't made much progress on that."
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7. 'Zoobiquity' conference at Penn Vet highlights human-animal similarities
By Katherine Unger Baillie
Penn Current
March 2, 2016
Both gorillas and humans suffer from heart disease. Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer in children as well as in dogs. And anxiety can instigate hair pulling in people and feather-pulling in birds.
These are just a few examples of health conditions that cross species lines. Veterinarians have long been aware of these interspecies similarities, but many human medical practitioners are just beginning to appreciate them. "Zoobiquity," a conference that will be held at Penn on Saturday, April 2, aims to raise attention and increase understanding of how veterinary and medical professionals can work together and learn from one another to improve the health of all species.
"Zoobiquity,"* a conference that will be held at Penn on Saturday, April 2, aims to raise attention and increase understanding of how veterinary and medical professionals can work together and learn from one another to improve the health of all species. [* See details: http://tinyurl.com/j8um3n4 ]
The Zoobiquity conference stemmed from a book of the same name by cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Kathryn Bowers that argues for increased collaboration among medical and veterinary health care workers. Accordingly, the conference encourages participation across disciplines. The Perelman School of Medicine, the School of Veterinary Medicine, and the School of Nursing are conference partners; each school has faculty presenting.
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