FOREIGN ANIMAL DISEASES
A foreign animal disease is a disease that is not currently found in the United States. These diseases may be highly contagious, and if introduced into Montana could have a devastating effect on our economy due to disease and loss of exports.
Department of Livestock's Animal Health Division
The Department of Livestock's (DOL) Animal Health Division is responsible for the prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases in Montana. This involves safeguarding the health and food production capacity of the State's livestock and poultry, and preventing the transmission of animal diseases to man. The prevention and control of domestic animal diseases are achieved through four major areas of activity: Import/Export, Disease Control, Game Farm, and Field Operations.
The Import/Export Section supervises the livestock and animal import permit system as provided for in Montana Statutes.The Disease Control Program functions to protect the Montana livestock industry from disease loss by providing for the diagnosis, prevention, control, and eradication of animal diseases. The Game Farm Program regulates game farms with elk, deer, and other cervidae for disease control and inspection for ownership, in cooperation with the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Field operations include investigation of disease occurrence, import compliance and enforcement of Montana Codes and Administrative Rules. Recognition of veterinary practitioners to perform official work gives each program a necessary pool of professional service in field operations.
USDA/APHIS
The DOL's Animal Health Division cooperates with USDA/APHIS (U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), which has a strong system in place for detecting and responding to outbreaks of foreign animal diseases. This cooperation on eradication programs is conducted through the Federal Area Veterinarian in Charge (AVIC) office in Helena. Once the state veterinarian or AVIC learns of a possible foreign animal disease on a premise, a trained foreign animal disease diagnostician is sent to the scene. This diagnostician is responsible for collecting samples from affected animals, gathering pertinent epidemiological information, implementing biosecurity measures, and establishing quarantines. The samples are sent to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, or the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratories (FADDL) on Plum Island, New York, for diagnosis. Suspected foreign animal disease samples receive immediate attention at these facilities.
If a foreign animal disease is confirmed, the AVIC and State officials will immediately initiate emergency response at the State and local level. The response would include notifying other state agencies and neighboring state veterinarians, securing the affected premise, maintaining biosecurity measures restricting animal movement, investigating trace-outs, and depopulation and disposal of the affected animals. Officials may also recommend that APHIS' Emergency Operations Center Riverdale, Maryland, be activated to begin coordinating communication efforts and manage, along with State and local officials, disease eradication efforts. Activation of APHIS' Emergency Operations Center would initiate a series of immediate measures designed to detect and eradicate other cases as quickly as possible, with the ultimate goal of returning the United States to disease-free classification in the world marketplace.
