Anyone heard of this in other states?
Posted on 10/25/2005 6:59:42 PM PDT by SJackson
BARABOO - Even if residents own as little as a few chickens, some horses or a pet llama, a new state law requires that animal owners register all premises where livestock are kept.
Beginning Nov. 1, people must register with the state locations where livestock are kept, said Robert Fourdraine, chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium, a nonprofit organization working with the state Department of Agriculture. This is a first step toward implementing a nationwide system of livestock identification.
A wide variety of animals are considered livestock under the law, a including: fish; cattle and bison; alpacas; deer, elk and moose; horses; captive birds such as pheasants, emu and waterfowl; poultry and sheep. Registration is required of all livestock owners, including those keeping an animal defined as livestock as a pet or for hobby purposes.
Livestock owners are asked to complete their registration by Jan. 1, Fourdraine said. Once the window for registration ends, the law establishes penalties for livestock owners who don't comply.
The registration of addresses where livestock are kept is part of an effort to control future outbreaks of animal and human illness, said Paul Dietmann, Sauk County's University of Wisconsin agriculture agent.
"If there were an outbreak of diseases, it would be a lot easier and faster to notify people if livestock have been registered," he said. "You can understand why it's important to know where all the livestock are located and to have a means to quickly notify the people if there is an outbreak."
Disease emergencies involving livestock include the severe outbreak of foot and mouth disease, an illness of animals such as cattle and sheep, in Britain a few years ago, Dietmann said. While it never arrived in the U.S., agriculture authorities had to prepare for the possibility it might.
"The county has an emergency response plan for highly contagious animal diseases," Dietmann said. "If something were to break out, or even if it were suspected, there's a process the county would go through so people who need to know are notified."
Another concern is the avian flu, he said.
Health officials have not yet reported finding the avian or bird flu strain, formally called H5N1, in the U.S., according to press reports. But it has been found in poultry and wild birds in Asia, and just recently in parts of Europe.
Health experts worry H5N1 could mutate and become a deadly flu that easily spreads from person to person. It has killed about 60 people in Asia, but the few made ill generally caught it from contact with poultry.
"Avian flu could be an even bigger concern, because there's (a threat to) humans involved," said Dietmann.
Some farmers are skeptical about the national livestock identification process, he said, because state and federal laws do not yet require animals being imported to the U.S. to be identified and tracked.
"There's a higher requirement for farmers in the United States than there is for farmers who are exporting to the United States," said Dietmann.
A thorough livestock identification program would require registration of both local premises where livestock are kept and country-of-origin labeling for imported animals, Dietmann said. However, he still believes registration of livestock premises is a good idea.
"The faster we can notify people there needs to be a quarantine or something, the better off we are," he said.
In the statement, Fourdraine notes Sauk County is one of the leading counties in Wisconsin for numbers of places where livestock are housed.
Until Oct. 31, livestock owners may register their premises at http://www.wiid.org. After Nov. 1 the appropriate web address is http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/premises.
Owners may also call (888) 808-1910 to receive a registration form. Or they can get one at Sauk County-UW-Extension, Sauk County West Square Building, 505 Broadway, downtown Baraboo. Registration also may be done through a Farm Service Agency office.
Fish farm registrants, I presume this means you have to give your fish names. No time to lose.
I'll bet the Founding Fathers would have LOVED this little gambit...
Register your chickens or you will be shot. Have a nice day.
There will fines for levity, of course...
In other countries, dogs and cats are considered livestock. Do immigrants have to ....aw forget it.
Register = tax = fine = prohibit = more government = more bad news = need for bigger jails........
Well, they've given us all papers and numbers. Gotta control those animals, too. The government needs to know everything so that they can keep us safe. Your papers, please. And your little dog, too.
Anyone heard of this in other states?
 Good Grief! What Next? |
In so many ways, I suppose I shall never be able to go back home....
Because that universe does not exist any more. It has been replaced with a twilight zone.
I keep hearing rumors but nothing definite yet. More BS as far as I am concerned.
What this article doesn't tell us is: Is this information going to be kept private?
Criminey! I'll bet some dimwit bureacrat will decide it should be put published or put up on the internet in order to comply with open records laws.
There's nothin' like giving PETA and ALF a roadmap to somebody's farm so they can Liberate the Animals.
Has no one thought of this? Color me Paranoid.
When hens are outlawed, only outlaws will have hens.
This is a first step toward implementing a nationwide system of livestock identification.
Livestock will be redefined to include humans.
You got a license for them critters Cav?
I'm afraid I'm gonna have to take these here chickens, and whatever cows ya got.
I heard about a push at the Federal level to have all livestock tagged with RFID tags. But don't know how far along that is...
Wonder when it will dawn on those bastards that a paper check or a plastic credit card will not cook into a meal.......
Please add me, as I am a native to Wisconsin. I now know why taxes are so damn high in Wisconsin. What crap will the Democrats in the state legislature inflict on us next?
Everyone must call the Wisc. State Laundry Control
Board every day and inform them that you are wearing
clean underwear and to also inform them once per week that
you have done your laundry. This is to make sure that any
possible disease outbreaks can be controlled and that
no one person could possibly be offended by any smelly
clothes. Really... The next department coming will make
sure you have done your dishes every day and washed
your car.
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