Abstract
To the average breeder the quarantine station program has remained much of a mystery. Scuttlebutt overheard at bird clubs bears witness that too much misinformation and not enough factual knowledge is dispensed concerning the history, purpose, operation, and reliability of quarantine stations. This article attempts to shed some light into these dark corners.
HISTORY
In the Fall of 1971 and Spring of 1972 the U.S. Department of Agriculture was alerted to the appearance of an "exotic" and viral strain of Newcastle Disease (VVND) in the U.S. poultry industry. In a short period of time a number of poultry ranches in southern California and in several other states were found to have infected flocks. Infected flocks or flocks under suspicion were quickly quarantined and examined. If VVND (Velogenic Visotropic Newcastle Disease) was isolated from a flock, the flock was destroyed. UJ tima tely, all eight southern California counties were quarantined and roadchecks into and out of the area were established to search vehicles and seize birds or eggs entering or leaving, to prevent the further spread of the disease. During this "emergency eradication program" both poultry and exotic bird flocks were destroyed and the owners were reimbursed from a special federal fund.
At the time of the Newcastle outbreak, the U.S. permitted the unrestricted importation of exotic birds. The U.S.D.A. felt these exotic birds were the source of the epidemic, therefore they ordered the embargo of all further importation on August 24, 1972. At the same time recent importers, identified from customs records, were in terviewed and their premises were inspected in an effort to detect further cases of VVND.
During the height of bureaucratic activity little concern was given to the thousands, perhaps millions, of birds that were moving freely across our borders. Credible people reasoned aloud, "why, all of a sudden, do we have a Newcastle outbreak, when in all the previous years of unrestrained importing we had none?" Others, in retrospect, have suggested that the Newcastle Eradication Program was, in part, politically motivated since the poultry market was severely depressed due to an oversupply of eggs and poultry products ( eggs were 36 cents per dozen, chicken was 29 cents per pound). The program was viewed as an over-reaction and a simultaneous attempt to bail out marginal producers through the program's reimbursement feature. In any event, the problem was real and most of the actions taken were necessary.
PURPOSE
Nearly a year after the August '72 embargo. the U.S.D.A. proposed rules for the establishment of federally supervised, privately owned quarantine stations. Since the 1930s federally operated quarantine stations had been in existence for the purpose of importing poultry and poultry products (to this day all doves, pheasants, quail, etc., must come through the federally operated stations, and were coming in during the embargo). It was reasoned somewhere, perhaps a divine revelation, at U.S.D.A. that exotic birds could safely be imported since that was the case with poultry.
The privately owned stations would permit the close monitoring of birds for VVND and Fowl Cholera. Infected birds could be destroyed and the introduction of VVND and Fowl Cholera prevented. It should be noted that the U.S.D.A. apparently holds the belief that it is far costlier to monitor importations than to vaccinate chickens and turkeys, as is done in other countries. At the same time U.S. poultrymen routinely vaccinate their birds for "domestic" strains of Newcastle Disease, with which they have lived for years. Whatever the argument, it can never be discounted that the U.S. enjoys the lowest priced poultry and poultry products of any industrialized nation.
Although the U.S.D.A. is legally responsible for the administration of quarantine regulations, the U.S. Public Health Service requires the feeding of a Chlortetracycline treated feed to all Psittacine birds for 30 days as a precaution against Psittacosis. This program replaces the former requirement that all Psittacines be treated in holding facilities outside the country.