The Treatment of Game Animals as Livestock in Michigan: Fiscal and Regulatory Issues October 5, 2010 and CWD

MEMORANDUM

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Interested Parties '

 

FROM: William E. Hamilton, Senior Fiscal Analyst

 

RE: The Treatment of Game Animals as Livestock in Michigan: Fiscal and Regulatory Issues

 

State Regulatory Authority over the Livestock Industry

 

According to data reported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service, the gross value of Michigan agricultural sector outputs in 2008 was $7.654 billion. Of that amount, $2.548 billion, approximately one-third, represented sales of livestock and animal products.1

 

One of the biggest threats to livestock and commercial animal production is disease? Livestock are susceptible to a number of diseases which can reduce productivity or result in animal death. Some diseases of livestock, zoonotic diseases such as rabies and influenza, can be transmitted to humans.

 

Michigan state government has supported agriculture almost from the inception of Michigan as a state.' One of the most important elements in that state support has been the control and eradication livestock disease. Public Act 182 of 1885 established a State Livestock Sanitary Commission and provided for the appointment of a state veterinary surgeon. The act stated that "it shall be the duty of the commission to protect the health of the domestic animals of the state from all contagious or infectious diseases of a malignant character, and for this purpose it is hereby authorized and empowered to establish, maintain and enforce such quarantine, sanitary and other regulations as it may deem necessary. "

 

Public Act 181 of 1919 abolished the State Live Stock Sanitary Commission, established a state Department of Animal Industry, and provided for the appointment of a Commissioner of Animal Industry and a State Veterinarian. The 1919 act was similar to the 1885 act in that it provided for the Commissioner of Animal Industry to have "general charge and oversight of the protection of the health of the domestic animals of the state and the guarding of the same from all contagious or infectious diseases." The 1919 act also provided for the use of "quarantine, sanitary and other regulations as may be deemed necessary."

 

The 1919 act was subsequently repealed and replaced with the Animal Industry Act, Public Act 466 of 1988. The stated intent of the Animal Industry Act is to ''protect the health, safety, and welfare of humans and animals. 11 The act provides for the appointment of a State Veterinarian within the Department of Agriculture, I This data was obtained from a document on the USDA Economic Research Service website, State Fact Sheets: Michigan updated July 30, 2010. In addition to the $2.548 billion related to animal industry, the $7.654 billion figure included crop output of $4.074 billion, as well as agriculture services and forestry product sales of $1.032 billion. With minor exceptions, the data in the State Fact Sheet document is the same as that presented in the Farm Economics section of Michigan Agricultural Statistics 2008-2009, a collaborative effort of the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the Michigan Department of Agriculture, and Michigan State University.

 

2 Diseases of livestock can have a catastrophic impact on the agricultural economy. One example of a high-impact disease is foot and mouth disease (FMD). According to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), there have been nine outbreaks of FMD in the United States since 1870, "each time the disease was eradicated with strict slaughter and quarantine control procedures." The report also indicates that the most serious of those outbreaks, in 1914, originated in Michigan. The disease then spread to 22 states after it gained entry to the Chicago stockyards. Although the last outbreak of FMD in the United State was in California in 1929, FMD has appeared more recently in other counties, notably in Great Britain in 2001 and 2007, and currently in Japan. Source: CRS Report for Congress "Foot and Mouth Disease: A Threat to U. S. Agriculture." April, 16,2001, and "Disease Threatens Japan's Beef Trade," New York Times, July 11,2010.

 

3 As one example, the Michigan Constitution of 1850 provided for the establishment of a state college of agriculture. A state agricultural school, which subsequently became Michigan State University, was established in 1855.

 

snip...

 

Summary

 

Beginning in the mid-1990s, Michigan law began to recognize the privately owned cervid industry as an agricultural enterprise, and conveyed on the industry benefits enjoyed by traditional agricultural enterprises - protection from nuisance lawsuits and exemption from some local zoning restrictions under the Right to F arm Act, indemnification for diseased animals killed under the authority of the Animal Industry Act, and shelter from certain property taxes under the General Property Tax Act and the MNREPA.

 

The cervid industry differs from traditional agricultural activities in that its economic benefit is not primarily food or fiber, but rather in the hunting experience - in particular trophy deer and elk. While the commercial cervid industry undoubtedly contributes to the Michigan economy, there are also economic externalities associated with the industry - primarily the risk of disease occurring in privately held cervid herds and subsequent transmission to the free ranging deer population or to domestic cattle. Those risks have driven the state regulatory program."

 

15 The 2005 Risk-based Audit of the Captive/Privately owned Cervid Industry in Michigan included a discussion of some risks associated with the privately owned cervid industry. An extended quotation from that Audit is included as Appendix I of this analysis.

 

Treatment of Game Animals as Livestock in Michigan October 5, 2010

 

Page 9 of 10

 

As noted in the above analysis, regulatory fees established under the Cervidae Act have not covered the costs of the state regulatory program; they represent approximately 7% of on-going program costs for the seven- year period ending September 30, 2009, exclusive of indemnification payments. In fact, over that seven-year period, fee revenue was less than the amount of indemnification payments to cervid owners for destruction of diseased deer.

 

Because regulatory fees established in the Cervidae Act to do not provide sufficient revenue to maintain the regulatory and inspection programs mandated by the act, the shortfall has been made up with state General Fund revenue. With regard to the MDA, the use of General Fund revenue for the cervid regulatory program has effectively reduced General Fund support for other MDA Animal Health and Welfare activities. Those programs eliminated or significantly reduced include MDA regulatory activities related to pet shops, dog pounds, animal shelters, aquaculture, livestock dealers, and riding stables.

 

Given reductions in available state General Fund revenue, the Legislature may reduce funding for privately- owned cervidae regulatory and inspection programs. However, at reduced funding levels, it is unlikely that the MDA and the DNR could effectively perform the regulatory activities currently mandated by the Cervidae Act.

 

Sources

 

The following is a list of additional information on state recognition of the captive cervid industry as an agricultural enterprise, and related issues:

 

Analysis on the Michigan Legislature website of the Cervidae Ac4 Public Act 190 of 2000 For the original legislative analysis of House Bill 4427 of the 1999-2000 Legislative Session http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?1999-HB-4427

 

For analysis of the 2006 amendments in House Bill 6245 of the 2005-2006 Legislative Session

 

http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2006-HB-6245

 

House Fiscal Agency Website House Fiscal Agency March 2005 Analysis of the Cervidae Act

 

http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa/PDFs/cervidae%20memo.pdf

 

House Fiscal Agency June 2008 Analysis of the Fiscal Impact of Pseudorabies and Feral Swine

 

http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa/PDFs/pseudorabies.pdf

 

Treatment of Game Animals as Livestock in Michigan October 5,2010

 

Page 10 of 10

 

APPENDIX I

 

Discussion of CWD from the 2005 Risk-Based Audit

 

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a naturally occurring progressive nervous system disorder disease of certain North American deer. It is apparently similar to other diseases such as BSE (Mad Cow Disease) and Scrapie Disease of sheep.

 

On March 10, 2005, the DNR released an audit of cervid livestock facilities. The audit, A Risk-based Audit of the Captive/Privately owned Cervid Industry in Michigan, was one of the recommendations of the Governor's CWD Task Force.

 

In discussing the risks associated with transmission of CWD in the captive cervid industry, the report stated that, "Practices which concentrate animals (such as baiting, and feeding, or maintenance in captivity) likely increase transmission rates." Although the report acknowledged that risk of human infection, if any, is low, it does note that "concern has arisen that the disease might be capable of infecting humans." Subsection 1.2.3 of the report, Relevance, further describes CWD risks as follows:

 

"CWD is contagious, and epidemics of the disease are self-sustaining in both CIP-O [i.e. captive privately owned cervids} and free-ranging deer and elk (Miller and Wild 2004; Miller et al. 1998, 2000). Currently the geographic distribution of CWD in free-ranging cervids is relatively limited and the natural rate of expansion has been slow (Williams et al. 2002). Nevertheless, there are concerns, and in the opinion of some, evidence (Nebraska Game and Parks Commission 2002; . Williams et al. 2002), that CWD can be spread much more widely and rapidly with human assistance, through movement of live animals or carcasses. Given CWD 's known persistence in the environment (Miller et al. 2004), its ability to infect over 80% of the animals in a WTD [white tail deer} herd within four years of initial exposure (Miller and Wild 2004), its high probability of becoming established once it has been introduced into a population (Miller and Williams 2003), and disease models which project high rates of death in affected populations (Gross and Miller 2001), concern for risks to the health of both C/P-O and free-ranging Michigan cervids is clearly warranted. Introduction into Michigan's C/P-OC population would result in substantial costs to producers due to quarantines and loss of sales, and indemnity costs for government. The importance of free-ranging deer and elk to both the culture and economy (Joly et al. 2003) and the threat of unsubstantiated human health concerns about CWD eroding public participation in hunter harvest (Williams et al. 2002) make the potential consequences of CWD introduction even more grave. In short, CWD clearly has the potential to impair the long-term viability of both cervid farming and wildlife management in Michigan. "

 

Although the audit, in accordance with the CWD Task Force mandate, was specific to CWD risk, the problems noted in the audit could also increase the risk of transmission of other diseases. The entire 2005 report, A Risk-based Audit of the Captive/Privately owned Cervid Industry in Michigan is available from the Michigan.gov website at http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12150---,00.html

 

http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa/Archives/PDF/animal_industry(pub_v2).pdf

 

Thursday, August 06, 2015

 

Michigan DNR confirms third deer positive for CWD; hunter participation is critical this fall

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/08/michigan-dnr-confirms-third-deer.html

 

Friday, July 17, 2015

 

Michigan confirms CWD in second free-ranging white-tailed deer

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/michigan-confirms-cwd-in-second-free.html

 

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

 

Michigan confirms state's first case of chronic wasting disease in free-ranging white-tailed deer

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/05/michigan-confirms-states-first-case-of.html

 

CWD Update Chronic Wasting Disease Eradication Program Provided by the Animal Industry Division Michigan Department of Agriculture September 5, 2008

 

Background: The Michigan departments of Agriculture (MDA) and Natural Resources (DNR) confirmed the state’s first case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in a three-year old white-tailed deer from a privately owned cervid (POC) facility in Kent County on Monday, August 25, 2008. The state quarantined all POC facilities, prohibiting the movement of all – dead or alive – privately-owned deer, elk, or moose. Officials do not yet know how the deer may have contracted the disease. To date, there is no evidence that CWD presents a risk to humans or to animals other than cervids. MDA Actions: The state-wide quarantine on all privately owned cervid facilities is still in place. Facilities may continue to hold shooting events, but all carcasses* must be held until testing clears the animal/or the quarantine is released. A clarification to the quarantines was published and distributed to law enforcement officials, stakeholders and other interested parties. A questions and answers sheet is available under the livestock link on the www.michigan.gov/chronicwastingdisease website.

 

The test results from the Kent County cervid breeding facility, where the index case was confirmed, found no additional diseased deer. Epidemiologists are reviewing taxidermy records on a facility related to the index case. Taxidermy operations must be licensed and operators must follow Michigan requirements when conducting business with hunters who have harvested animals from other states. Current Michigan law prohibits the import of free-ranging deer or elk carcasses from states or provinces with CWD. Only de-boned meat, antlers, antlers attached to a scull cap cleaned of all brain and muscle tissue, hides and upper canine teeth may be brought into Michigan. A person that is notified by mail or other means, that a carcass imported into Michigan tested positive for CWD must notify the Michigan DNR.

 

The first tier of traces from the index facility led to five facilities: three in Kent County, one in Montcalm County, and one in Osceola County. These facilities were quarantined by MDA. Records of sales and purchases have been reviewed and have revealed that two facilities received deer from the index case. Four deer from these two facilities were 2 euthanized, samples were tested at MSU’s DCPAH and were found to be negative on Thursday, September 04, 2008. One of the five facilities in tier one, also a Kent County facility conducts a taxidermy operation on the premises. Taxidermy is of great concern because infectious prions in the bones and spinal tissue of the carcass from CWD positive states can infect deer on the facility. MDA, DNR and USDA staff are investigating the records of the taxidermy operation. The second tier investigation to this point, has quarantined four facilities in Bay, Kent, Mecosta, and Saginaw counties. These facilities only sold to the tier one facilities and did not receive anything. They are quarantined as terminal operations and any deer that die, are culled, or shot for sport must be submitted for CWD testing. POC Facilities Quarantined: All POC facilities, except those that only have reindeer, are under quarantine in Michigan until the disease investigation is complete. Epidemiologists are developing a policy for records review and release of quarantines based on management practices and risk.

 

Disease Surveillance Table: Index facility Depopulated Tier 1 Tier 2 1 Entire index herd tested negative 5 herds 2 trace outs (four test-negative animals) 3 trace ins 4 none of these 4 facilities trace directly to the index facility DNR Actions: The ban on all baiting and feeding of deer and elk in the Lower Peninsula is in effect. MSU’s Product Center for Agriculture Development is taking calls from bait growers/sellers. The Center is using Michigan Market Maker, an interactive mapping system that connects Agriculture processors and businesses with Michigan growers and marketers. http://mi.marketmaker.uiuc.edu/ Information on the baiting and feeding ban is available on the CWD page of the Emerging Diseases website. A mandatory deer check for hunters who take a deer within the Kent County townships of Tyrone, Solon, Nelson, Sparta, Algoma, Courtland, Alpine, Plainfield, and Cannon, is in effect for the 2008 hunting season. The deer heads will be collected and tested for CWD. All transport of live wild deer, elk, and moose is prohibited statewide, including transport for rehabilitation purposes. Education and Outreach: A town hall meeting is scheduled to take place in Kent County on September 9, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. near Grand Rapids. Representatives from MDA, USDA, DNR and MSU will be there to answer questions about CWD, quarantines and the baiting ban. An update on the disease investigation will be presented to the House of Representatives Committee on Outdoor Recreation and Natural Resources on September 9, 2008 and the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Hunting and Fishing committees on September 10, 2008. 3 Questions and Answers regarding POC facility quarantines were sent via email to legislative offices, POC facility executive directors, and DNR law enforcement. They are also posted to the MDA, and Emerging Diseases websites. A coordinated communications action plan is in place. MSU Extension, Michigan Deer and Elk Breeders, MUCC, and many other special interest groups have volunteered to assist with information distribution. Information on CWD may be found on the Michigan Emerging Diseases website at www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases. Corrected on September 8, 2008 – changed from “meat” to “carcasses”.

 

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/e...WD_Update_September_5_2008_final_248172_7.pdf

 

http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186-25806_26356---,00.html

 

Summary of Michigan Wildlife Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Updated May 1, 2008 by Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Disease Laboratory

 

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/CWDTable082508_246523_7.pdf

 

http://www.michigan.gov/images/emergingdiseases/cwdcum1998_2002-050108_246525_7.jpg

 

Consumer Warning September – December 2008

 

The state's first case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was confirmed in a three-year old white-tailed deer from a privately owned cervid (POC) facility in Kent County on August 25, 2008. As a result, all POC facilities in Michigan were quarantined. Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a fatal neurological disease that affects deer, elk and moose. Infected animals display abnormal behavior, progressive weight loss and physical debilitation. CWD is believed to be caused by infectious, self-multiplying proteins (prions). Prions are normal cell proteins whose shape has been transformed, causing CWD. To date, CWD is not known to cause or be associated with disease in humans. No increase in human prion disease has been observed in areas of the western United States where CWD has been endemic in cervid populations for decades.

 

However, because much is still unknown about prion diseases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization advise that humans do NOT consume animals that have been tested and are known to be infected with CWD. In general, people should not handle or consume wild animals that appear sick or act abnormally, regardless of the cause. CWD prions are primarily found in central nervous system tissues (e.g. brain and spinal cord) and the lymphatic system (e.g. tonsils, lymph nodes and spleen) of infected cervids. Humans should avoid the handling or consumption of these tissues. Hunters should wear disposable gloves while field dressing and de-boning meat from the carcass. Recent research has shown that CWD prions may also be found in the saliva and urine of the infected animal. Experiments conducted suggest that CWD prions can persist in the environment and may indirectly infect other susceptible animals that come into contact with the contaminated environment. The meat product you are receiving has come from a quarantined facility under surveillance for CWD. MDA recommends you take de-boned meat from the carcass, hold the meat product in a freezer and consume it only after the facility of origin receives clarification from MDA that the animal was negative for CWD.

 

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/Meat_-_CWD_Consumer_Warning_final_248038_7.pdf

 

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/threads/cwd-michigan-update-september-5-2008.250638/

 

PRION 2015 CONFERENCE FT. COLLINS CWD RISK FACTORS TO HUMANS

 

*** LATE-BREAKING ABSTRACTS PRION 2015 CONFERENCE ***

 

O18

 

Zoonotic Potential of CWD Prions

 

Liuting Qing1, Ignazio Cali1,2, Jue Yuan1, Shenghai Huang3, Diane Kofskey1, Pierluigi Gambetti1, Wenquan Zou1, Qingzhong Kong1 1Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 2Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy, 3Encore Health Resources, Houston, Texas, USA

 

***These results indicate that the CWD prion has the potential to infect human CNS and peripheral lymphoid tissues and that there might be asymptomatic human carriers of CWD infection.***

 

P.105: RT-QuIC models trans-species prion transmission

 

Kristen Davenport, Davin Henderson, Candace Mathiason, and Edward Hoover Prion Research Center; Colorado State University; Fort Collins, CO USA

 

Additionally, human rPrP was competent for conversion by CWD and fCWD.

 

***This insinuates that, at the level of protein:protein interactions, the barrier preventing transmission of CWD to humans is less robust than previously estimated.***

 

https://prion2015.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/programguide1.pdf

 

Friday, August 28, 2015

 

Chronic Wasting Disease CWD TSE Prion Diagnostics and subclinical infection

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/08/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-tse-prion.html

 

Monday, August 24, 2015

 

Ohio wildlife officials ramp up fight against fatal deer brain disease after 17 more positive tests CWD

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/08/ohio-wildlife-officials-ramp-up-fight.html

 

Sunday, August 23, 2015

 

TAHC Chronic Wasting Disease CWD TSE Prion and how to put lipstick on a pig and take her to the dance in Texas

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/08/tahc-chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-tse.html

 

Thursday, August 20, 2015

 

TEXAS CAPTIVE Deer Industry, Pens, Breeding, Big Business, Invites Crooks and CWD

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/08/texas-captive-deer-industry-pens.html

 

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

 

Wisconsin doing what it does best, procrastinating about CWD yet again thanks to Governor Walker

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/08/wisconsin-doing-what-it-does-best.html

 

Thursday, July 23, 2015

 

*** Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) 101 Drs. Walter Cook & Donald S. Davis

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/07/chronic-wasting-disease-cwd-101-drs.html

 

Monday, August 31, 2015

 

Illinois Loosing Ground to Chronic Wasting Disease CWD cases mounting with 71 confirmed in 2015 and 538 confirmed cases to date

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/08/illinois-loosing-ground-to-chronic.html

 

Friday, August 14, 2015

 

Susceptibility of cattle to the agent of chronic wasting disease from elk after intracranial inoculation

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/2015/08/susceptibility-of-cattle-to-agent-of.html

 

Friday, August 14, 2015

 

Carcass Management During a Mass Animal Health Emergency Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement—August 2015

 

http://transmissiblespongiformencephalopathy.blogspot.com/2015/08/carcass-management-during-mass-animal.html

 

http://chronic-wasting-disease.blogspot.com/



Terry S. Singeltary Sr.