ONTARIO: Ont. to boost livestock disease response powers

06.oct.09
Country Guide

The Ontario government has introduced legislation to beef up its ability
to respond when or if diseases hit its livestock or poultry sectors.
The government on Monday introduced its new Animal Health Act, which it
said will "provide measures to assist in the prevention, detection,
response to and control of animal diseases and other hazards to protect
the livestock and poultry sector."
"We feel the proposed Act will provide the provincial government and the
livestock and poultry industry with the required tools to reduce the
likelihood of a major disease occurrence and assist with controlling its
spread if one should occur," Gord Coukell, chair of the Ontario
Livestock and Poultry Council, said in the province's release Monday.
The law, if passed, would require veterinarians and laboratories to
report specific animal diseases to the provincial chief veterinarian
(CVO). It also allows the CVO to grant inspectors the authority to
inspect a farm operation on "reasonable grounds" of a possible hazard.
It would also "enable the use of quarantine orders, surveillance zones
and animal health control area orders to help control the spread of any
detected disease or hazard." The CVO also gets powers to order that
livestock be destroyed.
Ontario is home to Canada's largest poultry industry, second largest
swine and dairy industries and third largest beef industry, the province
noted in its release.
"The proposed legislation allows us to better prepare for and respond to
animal health issues," CVO Dr. Deb Stark said in the release. "This
would be yet another step in strengthening Ontario's animal health
system, which benefits us all."