January 13, 2004

Bird Registration In Texas For Easier Disease Tracing

In the wake of last year's case of exotic Newcastle disease in a flock of chickens near El Paso, Texas animal health commissioners on Feb. 18 will consider for adoption proposed regulations requiring domestic and exotic fowl sellers, distributors and transporters to register, making it easier to locate birds in a disease outbreak.

A release from the Texas Animal Health Commission said commissioners will accept written public comments on the proposed regulations through Jan. 18. Legislation passed last year requires the TAHC to develop a registration program for fowl sellers, distributors and transporters who do not participate in recognized poultry or fowl disease surveillance programs.

"Many poultry diseases are highly contagious and when introduced into a flock, they spread quickly, threatening not only the state's commercial chicken and turkey industry, but also backyard flocks, caged pet birds and fowl raised for agricultural exhibitions," said Bob Hillman, Texas state veterinarian and head of the TAHC.

"Knowing who is selling and moving birds will allow us to access records, making it easier to track the movement of birds among flocks."

"In April 2003, exotic Newcastle disease, a deadly poultry virus foreign to the U.S., was confirmed in a small backyard flock near El Paso. State and federal quarantines were imposed on five counties in Texas and New Mexico, and for weeks, animal health teams combed neighborhoods, flea markets, roadside stands and feed stores to test birds and provide information on disease, biosecurity and movement restrictions," he said. "More than 800 flocks were tested. If these flocks had been registered, the disease surveillance effort could have been conducted quickly and efficiently."

Hillman said that, although no additional infection was detected in El Paso, the mere presence of END in Texas cost the commercial poultry industry millions of dollars, because of trade restrictions imposed by nearly 30 countries.

In California, the 2002-2003 END outbreak took an even greater toll when the virus jumped from backyard flocks to more than 20 commercial poultry operations. By year's end, more than 3 million birds in California had been destroyed at a cost of $160 million, and thousands of hours were spent searching for at-risk flocks and tracking the movement of birds that had been sold or traded.