IN THIS ISSUE: pgs 6-14 pgs 24-37 pgs 38-42 SEE YOU AT: - ariLIST

Government and Industry Relations
Committee (GIRComm) Update
Greetings to Members of ARI
and AOBA.
Past events in the United States,
namely 9/11/2001, the discovery
of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
(BSE or “Mad Cow Disease”) in cows
in Canada and the U.S., plus an outbreak
of Foot and Mouth Disease
(FMD) in Great Britain in 2000-2001,
will directly affected how alpaca owners
and breeders do business in the coming
years. Additionally, the heightened
alert over the threat of bio-terrorism
has brought about a new awareness
of security of our farms and animals.
The discovery of BSE in Canada last
year has halted all movement of ruminants
across the border from Canada
into the USA since May of 2003.
This mandate includes all llamas and
alpacas. As of this writing, there has
been no suggestion of when the ban
may be lifted.
Similarly, the discovery of BSE in
the U.S. put into “fast forward” the
necessity for a national livestock
animal identification system. This
includes camelids because they are
considered livestock. The United States
Animal Identification Plan (USAIP)
had been developing plans to identify
all livestock in the USA long before
this finding. With the discovery of
the BSE case in Washington, this has
caused the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) to move from
what might have been a voluntary to
a mandatory requirement to permanently
identify all livestock. This
includes the alpaca.
From what we understand, this will
be accomplished in phases. First, it will
be the responsibility of every state to
10
identify addresses where livestock
reside. Then will come the individual
identification of all livestock. The
timeline on all this is to be in place
by July 2005. This schedule may very
well include alpacas.
The discovery of BSE in
the U.S. put into “fast
forward” the necessity
for a national livestock
animal identification
system. This includes
camelids because they are
considered livestock.
ARI and AOBA have selected a
joint committee (called the “AOBA/
ARI Government and Industry Relations
Committee,” or “GIRComm”)
which was activated in December
2003. Members of this committee
are Dr. Michael Alpert, Dr. Tom
Cameron, Caroline Mixon, Dr.
Cheryl Tillman and Jodi Wever.
Two recommendations came out
of the first meeting and both were
taken to the respective Boards of
Directors by Jerry Forstner (to the
AOBA Board) and by Libby Forstner
(to the ARI Board). Both recommendations
were approved.
The GIRComm now
has a webpage.
Visit www.alpacaowners.com and
click on the link for Governnment
Committee to find minutes, bulletins,
and other important info.
The first, to ARI, is to make it
mandatory by July 2005 that in order
to register any alpaca, the owner(s)
must provide the microchip number
on the microchip implant of that
alpaca.
Secondly, to AOBA, that a microchip
be present in any alpaca presented
for competition in any AOBA certified
halter show, as evidenced by scanning
at check-in as well as throughout the
duration of the event, to be effective
July 2005.
The way these two recommendations
will be implemented is under development
by both AOBA and ARI and will
be disseminated to both memberships
in the near future.
The purpose of the livestock identification
plan is to be able to trace back
within 48 hours the location of any
livestock, should there be an outbreak
of any foreign animal disease. As part
of this, information regarding the
birthplace and other places the livestock
may have resided needs to be
available. In our opinion, the ARI database
makes this information readily
retrievable if the registry has the microchip
number in the database and if the
ownership information is current. ARI
cannot assume responsibility of being
the gate keeper, however. The individual
owner has the ultimate responsibility
to comply.
Details of the animal identification
plan for the alpaca are being worked
out as this issue of OneVoice goes to
press, and the plan has not yet been
approved. Be advised that your
GIRComm is directly involved with
this important process. It is our
position that the microchip is the
most acceptable way to permanently