Expenses Associated With Transporting and Disposing of Tuberculosis-Exposed Animals

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the regulations concerning animals destroyed because of tuberculosis to allow the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay herd owners some of their expenses for transporting tuberculosis-exposed cattle, bison, and cervids to slaughter or to the point of disposal, and for disposing of the animals. Prior to the interim rule, herd owners could only receive help with these costs for affected animals. Consequently, herd owners in some cases elected to keep exposed animals in a herd until testing revealed them to be either free of tuberculosis or affected with tuberculosis, or elected not to depopulate an affected herd, providing opportunity for further spread of the disease. The interim rule also made minor changes to the provisions for paying some of the expenses for transporting tuberculosis-affected animals to the point of disposal and disposing of them. The interim rule was necessary to ensure continued progress toward eradicating tuberculosis in the U.S. livestock population.