Dairy Herd Alert: New Web site provides animal ID information 1/31/

February 4, 2005

New Web site provides animal ID information

By Dairy Herd news source (1/31/2005)

There are plenty of questions swirling round USDA's national animal

identification system. Now to assist further, the Animal and Plant

Health Inspection Service has launched a new Web site, available at

http://www.usda.gov/nais. It's designed to be a one-stop resource for

stakeholders looking for information about NAIS.

"We hope our stakeholders will visit the site frequently to find out the

latest news about NAIS from a national perspective," says W. Ron

DeHaven, APHIS administrator. "It will be updated regularly as new

information becomes available."

As well as providing national news, the site will offer contact

information for state and tribal animal-health authorities. States and

tribes are responsible for providing each premises under their purview

with a nationally unique identification number-- the starting point of

the NAIS. All states should be able to assign nationally unique premises

identification numbers to locations where animals are managed or held by

mid-2005.

APHIS officials plan to add to the new Web site resources targeted to

specific species and industry-segment groups. Currently, NAIS working

groups comprised of industry and government representatives have been

established for cattle and bison, sheep, swine, poultry, horses, llamas

and alpacas, deer and elk, and livestock markets and processors.

In implementing NAIS, USDA's goal is to provide animal-health officials

the ability to identify all animals and premises that have had contact

with a foreign- or domestic-animal disease of concern within 48 hours

after discovery. As an information system providing rapid tracing of

infected and exposed animals, NAIS will help limit outbreaks by ensuring

that they are contained and eradicated as soon as possible.

With recent passage of the government's Fiscal Year 2005 Consolidated

Appropriations Act, APHIS will receive about $33 million to implement

NAIS. USDA also transferred $18.8 million from its Commodity Credit

Corporation to APHIS during Fiscal Year 2004 to support NAIS.

USDA/ APHIS

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