APHIS To Reduce Backlog And Streamline Enforcement
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Copyright 2012
By Jeffrey Howard
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) held an industry stakeholder call to announce improvements to their investigation and enforcement streamlining efforts. APHIS pointed out on the call conducted by Dr. Kay Carter-Corker that over 2,000 open investigations are on the books of APHIS as of the end of 2011. Dr. Chester Gipson was unable to participate on the call due to illness.
Dr. Carter-Corker pointed to two areas of focus, first was to reduce the number of cases in backlog and secondly to reduce the time it takes to investigate. APHIS created a task force to address the backlog and is identifying the most critical cases to pursue. Dr. Carter-Corker pointed out that factors such as the cases significance to overall animal health, APHIS ability to successfully complete the investigation, the seriousness of the violation, age of the violation and whether the violator is a previous offender would be taken into account. For those they choose not to pursue letters of warning will be sent and the investigations will be closed.
On average APHIS requires 600 days to conduct an investigation and come to a resolution. If the case is then turned over the Office of Inspector General they can take much longer than that. The goal of APHIS is to reduce the average time to 355 days. In order to do so Dr. Carter-Corker pointed to creating templates for communication, pursuing cases with the most and best evidence and taking a more national approach to the investigations.
In closing Dr. Carter-Corker informed the participants that APHIS mission was to target those that pose the greatest risk to animal welfare. During questions, APHIS pointed out that approximately 800 of the 2,000 open cases dealt with animal welfare and 1/3rd of those dealt with the Tennessee Walking Horses and related breeds.
More Stories |
-
Read More
-
The WHOA Triple Crown Cricut will start March 30 through April 1, 2023 in Pensacola, Florida at the Escambia County Equestrian Center. The Honorable Judge Darden Gladney of Homer, Alabama will judge the show.
Read More
-
On the afternoon of Tuesday, March 21, CasMol Farms of Cookeville, TN were able to showcase the great Tennessee Walking Horse breed to one of Tennessee Tech University’s agriculture classes. The Equine Production class of the College Of Agriculture and Human Ecology met with Rod Slagle and Jordan Stacy at the Hyder-Burks facility in Cookeville, TN...
Read More
-
The 55th Annual National Trainers’ Show was held in Cooper Steel Arena March 15th through the 18th on the show grounds of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. This marks the first Tennessee Walking Horse show in the newly title sponsored Cooper Steel Arena, replacing the old naming rights holder, Calsonic Arena.
Read More
-
The Christmas In July Horse Show, scheduled for June 27-29 at the Bedford County Ag Center in Shelbyville, Tennessee, has selected Chris Bobo, Brent Grider and Chris Zahnd to mark the cards for this year's event.
Read More
-
In a true sign of unity, various industry organizations sacrificed year-end individual revenue generating events to join together to produce one final show season event to support the industry’s efforts to raise funds to support its journey toward equitable treatment among all HPA breeds.
Read More
-
The Report has learned of the passing of long-time Walking Horse enthusiast, Brenda May.
Read More
-
Read More
-
The SHOW HIO has made several updates to its 2023 rulebook. A change previously announced was the change with how horses will be required to enter the show ring. That rule is found in both the general rulebook as well as in the judges’ section of the rulebook...
Read More
-
Susan (Sue) Jane Dean, 67, of Beechgrove TN passed away on February 9th, 2023 in her home surrounded by her family.
Read More
|