USAHA News
United States Animal Health Association
Contact:  Larry Mark - (703) 451-3954 - ldmark@erols.com


For immediate release:

USAHA COMMITTEE LOOKS AT PUBLIC CONTACT WITH EXOTIC ANIMALS

	HERSHEY, Pa., Nov. 8, 2005 - Public contact with captive wildlife continues to 
be an issue -- especially as it pertains to big cats, bears and other exotic animals -- 
according to a report presented at the meeting of the U.S. Animal Health Association 
(USAHA) Committee on Captive Wildlife and Alternative Livestock here this week.  

	Dr. Chester Gipson, with the Animal Care unit of the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), reported that a 
regulation addressing potentially dangerous animals was amended in July 2004.  It now 
requires that Animal Welfare Act licensees demonstrate adequate experience and 
knowledge of the species they maintain.  

	Dr. Gipson said that the Secretary of Agriculture has determined that there is an 
inherent risk in contact with big cats and, therefore, there must be sufficient distance 
between them and the public.  Big cats include lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards, cougars, 
cheetahs and any hybrids of these species.

	The committee also heard a report on the status of the APHIS chronic wasting 
disease (CWD) program.  As soon as a proposed rule is finalized, the CWD Uniform 
Methods and Rules will be reconciled with the rule and the grandfathering process of 
existing state CWD programs will begin.  In 2005, CWD was discovered in New York, 
West Virginia, and in free-ranging deer in Alberta, Canada, as well as in a free-ranging 
moose in Colorado.    

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