A load of Canadian bison destined for an American feedlot was turned back at the Montana border because the border crossing lacked facilities to unload and inspect the animals, a new post-BSE requirement.
Instead, the 88 bison destined for Idaho returned to their home in Alberta’s Peace River district Sept. 1 after 54 hours on the truck, said owner Ross Adam of Grande Prairie, Alta.
Adam was shocked at the border bureaucracy since a load of bison he shipped to an American slaughter plant three weeks earlier had no problem crossing into the United States.
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Under post-BSE rules, cattle and bison destined for an American feedlot must be unloaded at the border, inspected and reloaded, said Jim Becker, the U.S. port veterinarian at Sweetgrass, Mont.
“We’re required to unload all feeders,” said Becker. “This was a requirement from the secretary of agriculture.
“We don’t have the facilities to unload.”
The Montana border crossing has facilities for cattle, but they’re not strong enough for bison. There are no plans to build bison facilities, Becker said.
Before BSE closed the border, feeder bison were visually inspected while on the truck. A veterinarian inspected the animals on the farm, filled out an export certificate and sealed the truck before sending it to the border. When the animals reached the border, an inspection was done through the sides of the trailer where enough ear tags were read to confirm they were the same load of bison.
Now the bison must be inspected, tagged, branded with CAN, and teeth checked to ensure they are younger than 30 months of age before being sent into the U.S. Bison for slaughter do not have to be unloaded at the border, but animals shipped to an American feedlot must be unloaded, inspected and reloaded before crossing.
Adam doesn’t understand why the animals must be unloaded at the border if they are inspected before they leave the ranch.
“What’s the point of inspecting them here in Canada?”
Adam, who has shipped 3,000-4,000 head of bison to the U.S. and back into Canada before BSE closed the border, said he has never run into this bureaucracy before.
“I won’t send any more until I know what to do,” said Adam, who is out the cost of trucking and veterinary inspection.
To make matters worse, after the load was rejected at the Montana border crossing it wasn’t allowed to reenter Canada without an inspection by a Canadian veterinarian at Coutts, Alta.
“They (the bison) never left Canada. It’s stupidity,” said Adam.
Eventually the bison were allowed to continue without an additional inspection.
Jim Shideler, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s import-export veterinarian, said the rules were just changed to allow rejected loads back into Canada without a veterinary inspection, but that information hadn’t reached Canada Customs officials when Adam’s shipment came through.
“When the first shipment of something goes across, there are bound to be hiccups,” said Shideler.
Mark Silzer, president of the Canadian Bison Association, said his group is frustrated the Coutts-Sweetgrass border crossing is a recognized livestock entry port, yet it doesn’t have the facilities to handle bison.
“Without the facilities for inspection they had no choice but to turn the load around,” said Silzer, who is concerned politics might have played a role in the animals being rejected.
“You hope not, but when you see these things you have to wonder,” said Silzer. He has contacted his American counterparts to clarify the rules.
“We have to get to bottom of it and find out what the regulations are going to be,” said Silzer.
Dave Carter, executive director of the U.S. National Bison Association, said they too are frustrated by the problems getting bison across the border.
“If these are going to be regulations, facilities must be available,” said Carter.
He plans to bring up the bison problem when he meets with inspection officials in Washington this week. He’s not hopeful there will be many ears tuned his way since politicians are dealing with two Supreme Court justice appointments and Hurricane Katrina aftermath.
In the meantime, it may be best to avoid the Montana border crossing, he said.
“It’s frustrating but not unexpected,” he said.
“The current regulations give veterinarians the authority to offload animals but the regulations don’t require animals to be offloaded.”
The only border facility for unloading bison is at North Portal, Sask. There are no facilities for unloading bison on the American side at Portal, North Dakota.
