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1. Yellowstone National Park hopes to change bison management [edited]
KTVH.com
March 9, 2016
MTN News -- Yellowstone National Park is back in the business of capturing and shipping bison off to slaughter, but this type of bison management could be on its way out. This year park officials allowed our cameras to record the operations at Stephens Creek.
Today, 75 bison are moving through here. Four men on horseback, along with a Chevy Blazer herd bison from a holding pen into the processing area. Once inside they are sent down a series of alleyways and then into a hydraulic chute.
This is the first time these operations have been recorded by the media. "We're just trying to open the doors up, show people that we're not trying to hide anything that happens in the facility," said Amy Bartlett, Yellowstone National Park Spokesperson.
In the 90s, the state of Montana sued the park because bison were leaving Yellowstone boundaries. The settlement created the Interagency Bison Management Plan. Every year they come up with a desired number of bison. This year the goal is to reduce the herd by 6-900. So far about 400 have been killed by hunters.
They're hoping to make up the rest by capturing bison and shipping them to slaughter here at Steven's Creek. But bison management may be in for a change, thanks to knowledge gained over the past 16 years.
"Their movements in and out of the park. Also how brucellosis is transmitted and what their ideal movements would be," said Bartlett.
One change could be the quarantine of certain bison that test negative for brucellosis, something the park is hopeful could happen soon. So soon that this week they're holding back brucellosis free calves.
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2. Livestock owners reminded to renew premises registration [WI]
By Angie Cina
LaCrosse Tribune
March 9, 2016
Livestock owners will soon receive materials in the mail to renew their premises registration by July 31 in accordance with Wisconsin's mandatory requirements, according to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).
"Any premises that keeps livestock, even if it's just one chicken in the backyard, is required to register their premises to aid us in managing a disease outbreak if that becomes necessary," said Dr. Paul McGraw, Wisconsin State Veterinarian of DATCP's Division of Animal Health.
Registration and renewal are free and can be done online for convenience. Anyone required to register or renew their current registration can do so online at www.wiid.org or by calling the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium (WLIC) at 888-808-1910. WLIC is the contracted agent that manages the database on behalf of the state of Wisconsin and helps to ensure confidentiality of the information.
Premises registration data has proven to be a valuable asset during past disease outbreaks. The information contained in the database allows responders to contact animal owners within a control zone to arrange testing of their animals to ensure there has been no disease transmission. As a result, the outbreaks were more efficiently managed and contained.
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3. Five New York Horses Confirmed With Equine Infectious Anemia
By The Horse Staff
TheHorse.com
March 10, 2016
Five horses in New York were diagnosed with equine infectious anemia (EIA) on March 4, according to the Equine Disease Communication Center (EDCC). All five cases-confirmed by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Division of Animal Industry-are at one Cortland County farm, which is home to 10 draft and buggy horses. Animal health officials have quarantined the farm and its resident horses, according to the EDCC report.
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4. How to Disinfect Your Farm
By Nancy S. Loving, DVM
TheHorse.com
March 10, 2016
Sure, you know cleaning and disinfecting exposed surfaces helps prevent disease spread, but what's the best way to do it?
You take great pride in your farm, making every effort to keep barns and turnout areas clean, tidy, and in good repair. You and your farm employees follow best biosecurity practices, and your collective work has paid off: Your horses are (knock on wood) free of infection or illness. Yet you know that even with the best of care, pathogens have the potential to slip through.
Think about the horse that hauled in last week for a quick afternoon ride. His owner brought her own buckets, but could he have wiped his nose (Wasn't it a little runny?) on surfaces your own horses will touch? Or the horse that just moved onto the farm from across the state-could she have brought a communicable disease to the premises with her?
In cases such as these, you'll want to take extra precautions to limit your herd's infection risk. This includes thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting particular structures, areas, and equipment on the farm.
Where to Start?
If you think about it, barns are natural reservoirs for infectious organisms. Inside, horses, people, and equipment intersect on a daily basis, and all are important vectors capable of spreading pathogens among horses (and, in some cases, people!). This is why it's important not to simply focus on disinfecting surfaces in barns and barn areas (walls, doors, paddocks, fences, and gates) to curb disease spread; be sure to address hand tools and other farm equipment, vehicles, and trailers, too.
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5. Michigan agencies oppose Great Lakes net-pen fish farming
Associated Press
Detroit Free Press
March 9, 2016
TRAVERSE CITY - Three state agencies have come out against using Michigan's Great Lakes waters for a certain type of fish farming.
A report says raising fish in netted enclosures in the lakes would pose risks to the environment, recreation and tourism. It was released Wednesday by the departments of Natural Resources, Environmental Quality, and Agriculture and Rural development.
It says native tribes with fishing management rights in the Great Lakes have raised strong objections, along with members of the public.
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6. FDA's Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring Team Wins Government Award to Design Public Health Surveillance Mobile App
FDA Ctr. for Veterinary Medicine Update
March 10, 2016
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) team has won a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Ventures Program Award to design a public health surveillance mobile application that will improve the ability of NARMS to carry out its mission. The mobile app will improve the collection of retail food surveillance data that are used for resistance monitoring.
NARMS is a collaborative program of state and local public health departments, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This national public health surveillance system tracks changes in the antimicrobial susceptibility of enteric (intestinal) bacteria found in ill people (CDC), retail meats (FDA), and food animals (USDA) in the United States.
FDA's mobile app will advance the collection, management, and transfer of retail meat sample data collected in the field by creating an electronic system to replace manual data entry. The mobile app could reduce processing time for state agencies that collect and test retail meat by up to 16 hours per month and generate a cost savings of up to $200,000 annually. The app will also allow states to report their surveillance data to FDA in a more timely manner, which would support time-sensitive regulatory decision making and provide information needed to address food related outbreaks.
The FDA plans to have limited availability of a beta test version of the mobile app available by April 2016.
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7. Welcome to CRISPR's Gene-Modified Zoo
By Sara Reardon, Nature magazine
Scientific American
March 10, 2016
Timothy Doran's 11-year-old daughter is allergic to eggs. And like about 2% of children worldwide who share the condition, she is unable to receive many routine vaccinations because they are produced using chicken eggs.
Doran, a molecular biologist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Geelong, Australia, thinks that he could solve this problem using the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9. Most egg allergies are caused by one of just four proteins in the white, and when Doran's colleagues altered the gene that encodes one of these in bacteria, the resulting protein no longer triggered a reaction in blood serum from people who were known to be allergic to it. Doran thinks that using CRISPR to edit the gene in chickens could result in hypoallergenic eggs.
The group expects to hatch its first generation of chicks with gene modifications later this year as a proof of concept. Doran realizes that it could be some time before regulators would approve gene-edited eggs, and he hopes that his daughter will have grown out of her allergy by then. "If not, I've got someone ready and waiting to try the first egg," he says.
Chickens are just one of a menagerie of animals that could soon have their genomes reimagined. Until now, researchers had the tools to genetically manipulate only a small selection of animals, and the process was often inefficient and laborious. With the arrival of CRISPR, they can alter the genes of a wide range of organisms with relative precision and ease. In the past two years alone, the prospect of gene-edited monkeys, mammoths, mosquitoes and more have made headlines as scientists attempt to put CRISPR to use for applications as varied as agriculture, drug production and bringing back lost species.
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