REGINA —The future of the West Hawk Lake livestock checkpoint is up in the air.
The voluntary program to track animal movement is managed by the Canadian Animal Health Coalition and supported by government and livestock groups, but funding ends in March.
Marcie Woods, who lives and works at the site on the Trans-Canada Highway near the Manitoba-Ontario border, hopes funding will be renewed with money from Growing Forward II so that there is no gap in services.
“Everyone speaks highly of it,” she said.
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However, funds are scarce because of government cutbacks and livestock groups are collecting less money through their check-off programs.
The West Hawk Lake Zone control site is a single highway surrounded by Canadian shield and forest that provides a natural buffer to prevent the spread of animal disease.
Three hundred to 500 trucks pass by each month. Many transport trucks used to detour through the United States to save time and miles, but alternatives were needed when BSE closed the border in 2003.
The checkpoint was created in 2006 as a pilot project and was recently renamed Zone Canada.
Truckers who pull into the site are asked to report where they came from, their destination and what they are hauling. A simple form asks for names, addresses, premises identification, species, the trucking company and truck license.
“We like to think of it as insurance if something does happen,” said Leanna Rousell, who works with the project.
“We want three points of data collection to confirm our information is correct,” she said.
The system meets world animal health standards.
“The biggest thing we are pushing for is instead of becoming a project, we become more of a permanent program,” she said.
Regulatory changes have been proposed to the federal Health of Animals Act to make the reporting program mandatory in 2015.
In the event of a catastrophic disease, controls could be implemented sooner to stop animal movement and trace where they have been.
“If we could retain some of our markets with zoning, perhaps we would recover a lot faster,” she said.
All records are confidential and are stored in the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency’s livestock tracking systems database. Producers with an agency PIN can check to see where their livestock have moved, similar to tracking a package through the mail.
Information can also be released to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency if a contagious disease occurs.
Other areas have been identified as special zones with limited access, such as British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, parts of Quebec and Prince Edward Island.
“The prairie regions don’t have the geological restrictions that allow for that logistical restriction.”
For more information, contact 877-966-3945 or visit www.zonecanada.ca.
