Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Announces Final Rule for Handling of Non-Ambulatory Cattle
WASHINGTON, March 14, 2009 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a final rule to amend the federal meat inspection regulations to require a complete ban on the slaughter of cattle that become non-ambulatory disabled after passing initial inspection by Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspection program personnel.
The final rule amends the federal meat inspection regulations to require that all cattle that are non-ambulatory disabled ("downer") cattle at any time prior to slaughter at an official establishment, including those that become non-ambulatory disabled after passing ante-mortem inspection, be condemned and properly disposed of according to FSIS regulations. Additionally, the final rule requires that establishments notify inspection program personnel when cattle become non-ambulatory disabled after passing the ante-mortem, or pre-slaughter, inspection. The rule will enhance consumer confidence in the food supply and improve the humane handling of cattle.
"President Obama has strongly stated his support for efforts to improve food safety," said Vilsack. "This rule is designed to enhance consumer confidence and humane handling standards and will provide clear guidance that non-ambulatory cattle will not be allowed to enter the human food supply. It is a step forward for both food safety and the standards for humane treatment of animals. "
Under the final rule, cattle that become non-ambulatory disabled from an acute injury after ante-mortem inspection will no longer be eligible to proceed to slaughter as "U.S. Suspects." Instead, FSIS inspectors will tag these cattle as "U.S. Condemned" and prohibit these cattle from proceeding to slaughter. Discontinuing the case-by-case disposition of cattle that become non-ambulatory disabled after ante mortem inspection will eliminate the time FSIS Public Health Veterinarians spend conducting additional inspections on these animals, thereby increasing the time inspection program personnel can allocate to other inspection activities. With this final rule, these cattle now must be humanely euthanized.
On July 13, 2007, FSIS published the final rule, "Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk Materials for Human Food and Requirements for the Disposition of Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle; Prohibition of the Use of Certain Stunning Devices Used To Immobilize Cattle During Slaughter" (the SRM final rule). The SRM final rule allowed a case-by-case reinspection of cattle that became non-ambulatory disabled after ante mortem inspection to address the rare situations in which an animal that is deemed by FSIS as fit for human food at ante-mortem inspection subsequently suffers an acute injury.
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For further information, contact Dr. Daniel Engeljohn, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Policy and Program Development, FSIS, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250, or by phone at (202) 205-0495.
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The Texas Comptroller's Office has updated agency rules to
provide clarity for landowners and tax appraisers regarding
wildlife management standards for property to be appraised as
open space land. The new rules, created with active input from
the Texas Wildlife Association, went into effect December 11,
2008.
| Click here for the full notice. |
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If you have a notice you would like included here, please email aisha.cruz@tm-bc.org or call 956-481-3256.
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COUNTIES IN TEXAS
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Texas Department of State Health Services
NEWS RELEASE
December 29, 2008
DSHS to Resume Annual Wintertime Rabies Bait Drop Jan. 7
The Texas Department of State Health Services’ annual airdrop of vaccine baits, credited with turning the tide against the spread of rabies strains carried by coyotes and gray foxes, will begin next week. Some 2.9 million baits will be dropped over parts of 41 Texas counties.
“The purpose has been to create and maintain zones of vaccinated coyotes in South Texas and gray foxes in West-Central Texas to prevent the spread of rabies to other animals and humans and to eventually eliminate canine and gray fox rabies in Texas,” said DSHS veterinarian Ernest Oertli, director of the department’s Oral Rabies Vaccination Program.
“No human cases of rabies in either area have occurred since the airdrops began,” he said.
Flights of five specially equipped airplanes will be from four airports. Scheduled start dates and locations are:
- · Jan. 7, Zapata County Airport near Zapata and Kimble County Airport in Junction
- · Jan. 12, Pecos Municipal Airport and
- · Jan. 19, Del Rio International Airport.
(The 11 counties in the 2009 South Texas vaccine distribution area are: Cameron, Dimmit, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, La Salle, Maverick, Starr, Webb, Willacy, Zapata and Zavala.
The 30 counties in the 2009 West-Central Texas vaccine distribution area are: Concho, Crane, Culberson, Ector, Edwards, El Paso, Irion, Jeff Davis, Kerr, Kimble, Kinney, Loving, Mason, McCulloch, Menard, Midland, Pecos, Presidio, Real, Reeves, Regan, San Saba, Schleicher, Sutton, Terrell, Tom Green, Upton, Val Verde, Ward and Winkler.
Please contact your Regional Zoonosis Control Veterinarian or the Zoonosis Control Central Office in Austin for more information: www.dshs.state.tx.us/idcu/health/zoonosis/contact/.)
The number of animal cases of canine rabies in South Texas has declined from a high of 142 animal cases when the program began in 1995 to none through October 2008. Gray fox cases are down overall from an all-time high of 265 cases in 1994 to 11 reported through October 2008.
The specialized baits for coyotes are made of fish meal. The vanilla-flavored bait for gray foxes is made of dog-food and molasses. Encased in each bait are 2 milliliters of oral rabies vaccine. “The vaccine cannot cause rabies in people or animals,” Oertli said.
Because baits contain a biological agent and are less likely to be eaten by wildlife if people touch them, baits should not be handled. The brown baits, measuring 1¼ by 1¼ by ¾ inches, are marked with a DSHS toll-free number, 1-877-722-6725, people may call for information.
“Getting pets vaccinated against rabies by a veterinarian as required by law is still essential to preventing the spread of rabies,” Oertli said. He added that a domestic animal’s rabies vaccination can be safely given even if the animal recently ate an oral rabies vaccine bait.
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(News Media: For more information contact Emily Palmer, DSHS Assistant Press Officer, at 512-458-7400.)
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