[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 3 (Friday, January 4, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 690-691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-31644]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
[Docket No. APHIS-2011-0079]
Guidelines for the Control of Tuberculosis in Elephants
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of Availability.
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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service intends to use the 2010 guidelines issued by the
United States Animal Health Association to assess compliance with the
animal welfare regulations as related to elephant tuberculosis as well
as to aid users in their compliance with those regulations. We accept
these guidelines as meeting the requirements in the Animal Welfare Act
and are making them available for review. We welcome comment on our
intention to utilize the guidelines as a means of assessing compliance
with our regulations.
DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before March
5, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0079-0001.
Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to
Docket No. APHIS-2011-0079, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD,
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
The guidelines and any comments we receive on this docket may be
viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0079
or in our reading room, which is located in Room 1141 of the USDA South
Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC.
Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you,
please call (202) 799-7039 before coming.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Barbara Kohn, Senior Staff
Veterinarian, Animal Care, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 84, Riverdale,
MD 20737-1234; (301) 851-3751.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2131-2159, AWA) authorizes the
Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) to promulgate rules and
standards and other requirements governing the humane handling,
housing, care, treatment, and transportation of certain animals by
dealers, exhibitors, research facilities, and other regulated entities.
The Secretary has delegated the responsibility for enforcing the AWA to
the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS). The APHIS Animal Care program ensures compliance with AWA
regulations and standards. Regulations established under the AWA are
contained in 9 CFR parts 1, 2, and 3. Currently, part 2 consists of
subparts A through I, which contain regulations pertaining to licensing
and registration of dealers, exhibitors, and research facilities, and
standards for veterinary care, identification of animals, and
recordkeeping.
The Attending Veterinarian and Adequate Veterinary Care regulations
contained in Subpart C and Subpart D are performance standards that do
not prescribe specific measures to be undertaken in order to be in
compliance with those regulations. Pursuant to the regulations,
research facilities, dealers, and exhibitors are required to provide
``adequate veterinary care'' to the animals in their custody. A
research facility, dealer, or exhibitor that employs a part-time
attending veterinarian (rather than a full-time attending veterinarian)
must do so under ``formal arrangements'' that ``shall include a written
program of veterinary care.'' Each research facility, dealer, and
exhibitor is required to ``establish and maintain programs of adequate
veterinary care.'' In 1998, APHIS adopted the use of a document
entitled ``Guidelines for the Control of Tuberculosis in Elephants''
developed by The National Tuberculosis Working Group for Zoo and
Wildlife Species in order to address the emerging issue of tuberculosis
in elephants and to provide the licensees and registrants with concrete
ways to meet the standards established in subpart D with regard to
elephant tuberculosis. This guidance document has been modified at
various times since then in order to incorporate new information and to
improve recommended practices. These guidelines have been utilized by
APHIS to monitor and address elephant tuberculosis under the AWA.
In November 2010, the Tuberculosis Committee of the United States
Animal Health Association (USAHA), which has taken over administration
of the guidelines from The National Tuberculosis Working Group for Zoo
and Wildlife Species, approved revisions to the guidelines. Following
the release of the 2010 revised guidelines, USAHA submitted a
recommendation to APHIS for the implementation of the newest version of
the guidelines, ``Guidelines for the Control of Tuberculosis in
Elephants 2010.'' We have reviewed the revised guidelines and find them
to be in line with the requirements of the AWA. We have determined that
the 2010 guidelines are useful to determine whether research
facilities, dealers, and exhibitors meet the regulations' minimum
requirements for the provision of ``adequate veterinary care'' to
elephants and the establishment and maintenance of programs of adequate
veterinary care for elephants with respect to tuberculosis. We have
therefore determined that it is appropriate for APHIS to continue to
utilize these guidelines to assess compliance with the regulations in 9
CFR subparts C and D. We welcome comments from the public regarding
this determination to use the guidelines in this manner. Given that
APHIS is not the author of the document, we are unable to make changes
to specific provisions contained in the guidelines. Accordingly, we are
seeking comments on the overall suitability of the document as a means
of assessing compliance with our regulations in 9 CFR subparts C and D.
Copies of the document are available on the Internet via the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0079, on the Animal Care Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/index.shtml, or from the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
[[Page 691]]
Done in Washington, DC, this 20th day of December 2012.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-31644 Filed 1-3-13; 8:45 am]
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