RED DEER – A new Alberta animal health act requiring quicker response to disease outbreaks or other emergencies is expected to be in force this fall.
“The faster you can respond, the less impact the disease will have on the province as a whole,” said Gerald Ollis, chief provincial veterinarian.
The Animal Health Act was passed in June 2007 but has been waiting for regulations to be written. The act covers inspections, quarantines, depopulation, disposal of infected animals and compensation to animal owners.
It also covers action required for reportable and notifiable diseases along with control methods.
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For example, West Nile virus is a reportable disease but will be moved to notifiable, which means the government monitors its behaviour but may not take aggressive steps to curb it.
A reportable disease has a specific list of actions for Alberta Agriculture for control and eradication.
“We will have a disease specific response policy,” Ollis said at the recent Alberta horse breeders conference in Red Deer.
Under the new act, a reportable disease requires action within 24 hours compared to the old act, which said action within 30 days was adequate.
Now, Alberta Agriculture veterinarians will take immediate action and in some cases receive Canadian Food Inspection Agency support, he said.
There is also a foreign animal disease protocol so if foot-and-mouth disease or classical swine fever were discovered, the province would work with the federal government to bring it under control and eradicate it.
The act also includes premise identification, which is a parcel of land defined by a legal land description or geo-referenced co-ordinates where animals, plants and food are grown, kept, assembled or disposed.
Producers register their property and will receive a number.
Biosecurity regulations are under development in consultation with the agriculture industry to define acceptable and reasonable practices.
Having a biosecurity plan may be tied to compensation if animals, feed or equipment are ordered destroyed because of disease.
“It does not make sense that the taxpayer should pay full compensation when the animal owner has not made any efforts to do simple biosecurity,” Ollis said.
Owners of valuable animals should buy insurance, he added.
Licensing and inspection of livestock markets also comes under the act.
Businesses will be required to make proper provisions for animal care and hold 10 years worth of records. This is a lesson learned from the difficulty experienced tracing slow moving diseases such as BSE because of lack of records.
“There are a lot of cases now where CFIA cannot trace all the animals because the records have not been maintained long enough,” he said.
