Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Deer, elk biosecurity protocol unveiled

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), in conjunction with the Canadian Cervid Alliance, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and other stakeholders,  has developed the new voluntary National Cervid Farm-Level Biosecurity Standard to help protect Canada's farmed cervid industry from animal diseases.

In 2014, the CFIA collaborated with the Canadian Cervid Alliance, provincial governments, industry organizations, producers, academia and private veterinarians to establish the Cervid Biosecurity Advisory Committee (CerBAC) to develop a national biosecurity standard for the cervid industry.

The voluntary standard helps producers keep cervids healthy by:

   providing best management practices, guidelines and target outcomes to minimize, prevent, and control the introduction and/or spread of pathogens and pests;
   promoting a consistent and science-based approach for managing risks of animal diseases;
   increasing awareness and knowledge of disease risks; and
   identifying potential gaps in current disease control measures.

A planning guide to help producers achieve the target outcomes is being developed.

Since 2009, 15 national biosecurity standards have been published in Canada for major animal and plant commodities