[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 3 (Friday, January 4, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 690-691]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-31644]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2011-0079]


Guidelines for the Control of Tuberculosis in Elephants

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health 
Inspection Service intends to use the 2010 guidelines issued by the 
United States Animal Health Association to assess compliance with the 
animal welfare regulations as related to elephant tuberculosis as well 
as to aid users in their compliance with those regulations. We accept 
these guidelines as meeting the requirements in the Animal Welfare Act 
and are making them available for review. We welcome comment on our 
intention to utilize the guidelines as a means of assessing compliance 
with our regulations.

DATES: We will consider all comments that we receive on or before March 
5, 2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0079-0001.
     Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to 
Docket No. APHIS-2011-0079, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, 
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
    The guidelines and any comments we receive on this docket may be 
viewed at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0079 
or in our reading room, which is located in Room 1141 of the USDA South 
Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC. 
Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you, 
please call (202) 799-7039 before coming.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Barbara Kohn, Senior Staff 
Veterinarian, Animal Care, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 84, Riverdale, 
MD 20737-1234; (301) 851-3751.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Animal Welfare Act (7 U.S.C. 2131-2159, AWA) authorizes the 
Secretary of Agriculture (the Secretary) to promulgate rules and 
standards and other requirements governing the humane handling, 
housing, care, treatment, and transportation of certain animals by 
dealers, exhibitors, research facilities, and other regulated entities. 
The Secretary has delegated the responsibility for enforcing the AWA to 
the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 
(APHIS). The APHIS Animal Care program ensures compliance with AWA 
regulations and standards. Regulations established under the AWA are 
contained in 9 CFR parts 1, 2, and 3. Currently, part 2 consists of 
subparts A through I, which contain regulations pertaining to licensing 
and registration of dealers, exhibitors, and research facilities, and 
standards for veterinary care, identification of animals, and 
recordkeeping.
    The Attending Veterinarian and Adequate Veterinary Care regulations 
contained in Subpart C and Subpart D are performance standards that do 
not prescribe specific measures to be undertaken in order to be in 
compliance with those regulations. Pursuant to the regulations, 
research facilities, dealers, and exhibitors are required to provide 
``adequate veterinary care'' to the animals in their custody. A 
research facility, dealer, or exhibitor that employs a part-time 
attending veterinarian (rather than a full-time attending veterinarian) 
must do so under ``formal arrangements'' that ``shall include a written 
program of veterinary care.'' Each research facility, dealer, and 
exhibitor is required to ``establish and maintain programs of adequate 
veterinary care.'' In 1998, APHIS adopted the use of a document 
entitled ``Guidelines for the Control of Tuberculosis in Elephants'' 
developed by The National Tuberculosis Working Group for Zoo and 
Wildlife Species in order to address the emerging issue of tuberculosis 
in elephants and to provide the licensees and registrants with concrete 
ways to meet the standards established in subpart D with regard to 
elephant tuberculosis. This guidance document has been modified at 
various times since then in order to incorporate new information and to 
improve recommended practices. These guidelines have been utilized by 
APHIS to monitor and address elephant tuberculosis under the AWA.
    In November 2010, the Tuberculosis Committee of the United States 
Animal Health Association (USAHA), which has taken over administration 
of the guidelines from The National Tuberculosis Working Group for Zoo 
and Wildlife Species, approved revisions to the guidelines. Following 
the release of the 2010 revised guidelines, USAHA submitted a 
recommendation to APHIS for the implementation of the newest version of 
the guidelines, ``Guidelines for the Control of Tuberculosis in 
Elephants 2010.'' We have reviewed the revised guidelines and find them 
to be in line with the requirements of the AWA. We have determined that 
the 2010 guidelines are useful to determine whether research 
facilities, dealers, and exhibitors meet the regulations' minimum 
requirements for the provision of ``adequate veterinary care'' to 
elephants and the establishment and maintenance of programs of adequate 
veterinary care for elephants with respect to tuberculosis. We have 
therefore determined that it is appropriate for APHIS to continue to 
utilize these guidelines to assess compliance with the regulations in 9 
CFR subparts C and D. We welcome comments from the public regarding 
this determination to use the guidelines in this manner. Given that 
APHIS is not the author of the document, we are unable to make changes 
to specific provisions contained in the guidelines. Accordingly, we are 
seeking comments on the overall suitability of the document as a means 
of assessing compliance with our regulations in 9 CFR subparts C and D.
    Copies of the document are available on the Internet via the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0079, on the Animal Care Web site at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_welfare/index.shtml, or from the person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.


[[Page 691]]


     Done in Washington, DC, this 20th day of December 2012.
Kevin Shea,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-31644 Filed 1-3-13; 8:45 am]
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