(1) The licensee must present his entire herd
annually for inspection by a designated agent of the department. The department
will verify each game farm animal's identification and the game farm animal
inventory must reconcile with the department's records.
(2) The licensee must report all game farm
animal deaths to the department (Helena office) within 1 day of the discovery
of death as required by 87-4-415, MCA.
(3) Upon the discovery of dead cervids, the
licensee must immediately request an inspection of the game farm animal as
required by ARM 32.4.307. At the time of the inspection of the dead animal, the
alternative livestock veterinarian shall remove the currently required tissue
samples and/or specimens and submit them to a department approved laboratory
for testing for chronic wasting disease (CWD) .
(a) Tissue samples and/or specimens must be
submitted from all CWD test eligible game farm cervids unless a waiver to
tissue sample and/or specimen submission has been granted by the state veterinarian
in accordance to (3) (b) .
(b) The state veterinarian may, at his
discretion, grant a waiver to tissue sample and/or specimen submission from
game farm cervids if the following conditions are met:
(i) The licensee's herd is of CWD monitored herd
status level I or greater (or the equivalent thereof) , as required by ARM
32.4.1303, and the animal has not had contact with animals of lesser status.
(ii) The
animal for which a waiver is requested must have resided on the licensee's game
farm for 12 months or have resided in the herd from which it is transported for
a period of 12 months.
(iii) The licensee must be in compliance with all
requirements of Title 87, chapter 4, part 4, MCA and rules promulgated pursuant
to this part.
(iv) The licensed game farm must have no
documented cases of ingress of wild cervids or egress of game farm animals
within the 18-month period immediately preceding the request for a
waiver. If it is determined by the state veterinarian there has been no
compromise in the surveillance status of the herd, this criteria may be waived
in the application for a waiver to CWD surveillance.
(v) There have been no breaches in perimeter
fence integrity that may have compromised the CWD surveillance status on the
game farm herd.
(c) The state veterinarian may grant a waiver
with stipulations that may include, but is not limited to, additional whole
herd inspections. A waiver from CWD surveillance does not exempt the licensee
from any other requirements for inspection or testing of game farm animals.
(d) The state veterinarian may not grant a
waiver to the mandatory surveillance required in this rule for an entire herd
or for a cervid from a herd that has been identified as a CWD affected, exposed
or trace herd.
(e) The licensee is responsible for all costs
incurred for the examination of game farm cervids, the inspection services, the
collection and submission of tissue sample and/or specimens, and the laboratory
diagnostic costs.
(4) Failure to comply with the requirements of
this rule may result in the following:
(a) The monitored status of the herd may be
reduced to "monitored, status unknown."
(b) The cervid herd may be placed under a hold
order for 48 months.
(c) The department may consider failure to
comply with this rule as a violation of 87-4-427, MCA.
(5) Any person having knowledge that a game farm
cervid has been diagnosed as affected with CWD or exposed to CWD must report
that knowledge to the department as required by ARM 32.4.1001.