Section 345IAC2-7-4. Chronic wasting disease certified herd program

   (a) An owner of a cervid herd located in Indiana may apply to the board to enroll in the state CWD herd certification program by sending a written request to the state veterinarian.

  (b) To obtain and maintain a herd status, a herd owner who enrolls in the certification program must do the following:

(1) Comply with the requirements in this rule, including the requirements for a registered herd in section 3 of this rule, and the applicable requirements in 345 IAC 1-3.

(2) Within one (1) business day of discovery, report to the state veterinarian:

(A) all animals that escape or disappear; and

(B) the death of any animal that is at least twelve (12) months of age that is not sampled and submitted for CWD testing.

The report must include the identification of the animal involved and the estimated date and time of the animal's death, escape, or disappearance.

(3) Except as provided in subdivision (4), upon the death of an animal in the herd that is at least twelve (12) months of age for any reason, the caretaker shall initiate action to collect samples from the carcass for CWD testing according to one (1) of the following procedures:

(A) By procuring the services of a veterinarian to collect appropriate samples for CWD testing.

(B) By procuring the services of an approved CWD sample collector to collect appropriate samples for CWD testing.

(C) By any other procedure authorized by the state veterinarian that ensures appropriate sample collection, handling, and transportation for testing.

Samples must be submitted to an approved laboratory no later than seven (7) days after the date of death of the animal.

(4) If there is an event that results in a mass casualty in the herd over a short period of time from apparently the same cause, the herd owner may request that the state veterinarian approve a plan to sample a representative number of animals from the herd rather than sampling all of the deceased animals. Samples collected pursuant to a sampling plan approved by the state veterinarian satisfy the requirement in subdivision (3), even if all animals are not sampled.

(5) Comply with the following identification requirements:

(A) All animals in the herd must be identified before reaching twelve (12) months of age if they are not first identified under section 3(b)(2) of this rule. All animals regardless of age must be identified before being moved from the herd premises.

(B) All animals in the herd that are identified must be identified with at least two (2) forms of identification attached to the animal as follows:

(i) One (1) animal identification must be official animal identification that is a tamper resistant ear tag.

(ii) The second animal identification must be:

(AA) unique for the individual animal within the herd; and

(BB) linked to that animal and herd.

(iii) The second identification may be a tamper resistant ear tag or one (1) of the following forms of identification:

(AA) An electronic implant.

(BB) A flank tattoo.

(CC) An ear tattoo.

(DD) An identification device approved by the state veterinarian.

Official identification of a cervid must be maintained on the animal until the animal is deceased, any samples required by the board are collected from the animal, and, if the identification is not collected as a part of a sample collection, it must remain with the animal until it is disposed of in accordance with this rule and IC 15-17-11-20.

(6) Provide access to the written herd inventory, premises, and herd, to include assembling, handling, and restraining the animals, as follows:

(A) Upon request of the state veterinarian to aid in an animal disease investigation or verify compliance with this rule.

(B) At least once each year for an inventory that consists of a review of herd records and visual examination of the herd.

(C) At least once every three (3) years for a complete physical herd inventory with verification of identification to reconcile all animals and identification with records maintained by the herd owner.

The state veterinarian may authorize board employees, federal employees, and licensed and accredited private veterinarians to conduct inventories and complete physical herd inventories for the purposes of this rule.

(7) The herd must be enclosed in a perimeter fence that:

(A) is made from materials that will prevent cervids from entering or leaving through the structure;

(B) has no openings that will allow ingress or egress; and

(C) measures at least eight (8) feet from the ground to the top of the fence at all parts of the structure.

  (c) Subject to the provisions of subsections (e) and (f) the state veterinarian will place a newly enrolled cervid herd in first year status and if a herd continues to meet the requirements in this section will upgrade the herd status on the anniversary date of the herd's enrollment. The following are the herd statuses in the CWD certification program:

(1) First year status.

(2) Second year status after one (1) year of compliance.

(3) Third year status after two (2) years of compliance.

(4) Fourth year status after three (3) years of compliance.

(5) Fifth year status after four (4) or more years of compliance.

(6) Certified status after five (5) or more years of compliance.

(7) Suspended status if a herd is not in compliance.

  (d) If an owner wishes to maintain separate herds, each herd that is enrolled in the CWD herd certification program must maintain separate:

(1) herd inventories;

(2) records;

(3) working facilities;

(4) water sources;

(5) equipment; and

(6) land use.

There must be a buffer zone of at least thirty (30) feet between the perimeter fencing around separate herds, and no commingling of animals may occur. Movement of animals between herds must be recorded as if they were separately owned herds.

  (e) New animals may be introduced into a herd participating in the CWD certification program only from other herds participating in the program or an equivalent program in another state. When an animal is added to a herd, the CWD certification status of a herd will be altered as follows:

(1) The CWD status will not change if the animal that is added to the herd originated from a herd that has been in compliance with an equivalent CWD certification program and has achieved the same level of CWD status as the recipient herd.

(2) If the animal that is added to the herd originated from a herd with a CWD certification program status that is lower than the recipient herd's status, the recipient herd's certification status will be lowered to the status of the lowest status cervid added.

(3) A new herd that is assembled on a premises where CWD has never been diagnosed retains the certification status of the lowest status animal brought into the new herd.

  (f) The state veterinarian may suspend, revoke, or lower the certification program status of a herd for the following reasons:

(1) A herd is found to be:

(A) CWD positive;

(B) CWD suspect; or

(C) CWD exposed.

(2) The herd is designated a CWD trace back or trace forward herd.

(3) The herd is associated with an epidemiological investigation that is unable to make a determination regarding the exposure of the herd.

(4) The custodian of the herd does not meet the requirements under this section.

(5) The custodian of the herd does not enter into or complete the provisions of a herd plan under section 5 of this rule.

(6) The custodian of the herd violates board requirements for moving cervids into or within Indiana or any provision of this rule.

  (g) A herd owner may appeal a determination of the state veterinarian under IC 15-17-17.

  (h) As a part of an appeal of a designation of an animal as CWD positive, the owner may present as evidence the results of a DNA test, requested and paid for by the owner, to determine whether previous official CWD test results were correctly associated with an animal that belonged to the owner if the animal owner:

(1) arranged to submit animal tissue attached to an official identification device along with the other tissues that were collected for the official CWD test; and

(2) submits a written notice to the board indicating their intent to submit the test results as a part of their appeal.

The board may postpone a decision on the appeal for a reasonable period of time pending receipt of the test results. (Indiana State Board of Animal Health; 345 IAC 2-7-4; filed Jan 4, 2001, 1:59 p.m.: 24 IR 1340; readopted filed May 2, 2001, 1:45 p.m.: 24 IR 2895; filed Sep 12, 2002, 1:07 p.m.: 26 IR 348; filed Jul 23, 2008, 1:01 p.m.: 20080820-IR-345070824FRA; errata filed Oct 3, 2008, 3:30 p.m.: 20081022-IR-345080767ACA; filed May 23, 2013, 3:16 p.m.: 20130619-IR-345120491FRA; errata filed Jul 5, 2013, 10:19 a.m.: 20130717-IR-345120491ACA)