Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-2540 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu

 

For Immediate Release

 

Contact: Robert Waggener, Editor

Phone: (307) 766-3571

E-mail: robertw@uwyo.edu

 

Date: March 9, 2007

UW hosting Biodefense and Emergency Animal Response conference March 17-18

            Topics ranging from key Wyoming vulnerabilities, avian influenza and anthrax to animal rescue during severe storms and the elk die-off near Rawlins will be discussed at the Rocky Mountain Regional Conference on Biodefense and Emergency Animal Response (BEAR).

            The University of Wyoming is hosting the second annual BEAR conference March 17-18 in the Wyoming Union.

            BEAR provides a regional forum on biodefense and emergency issues related to animal health, animal welfare and public health. Speakers and participants will attend from Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and elsewhere.

            “This conference will provide critical information for both the seasoned expert and the emerging volunteer,” said veterinarian and co-organizer Kevin Dennison, director of the Colorado State Animal Response Team (SART).

            The conference is intended for veterinarians, academicians, animal care and control professionals, public health and agricultural professionals, emergency managers, law enforcement and fire personnel, emergency medical technicians and volunteer organizations.

            Approximately 120 people are expected, said one of the organizers, SART Program Specialist Ivy Leventhal of Denver.

            “We’re focusing on Wyoming issues and how they apply to the region since the conference is in Wyoming,” Leventhal said.

            Among the speakers are Frank Galey, dean of the UW College of Agriculture, and Donal O’Toole, head of the UW Department of Veterinary Sciences and director of the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory (WSVL).

            Galey will discuss botulism and phorate (systemic) insecticide, while O’Toole will address the importance of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network to Wyoming and surrounding states.

             “The network is a state-federal partnership in which publicly funded veterinary laboratories agree to test for exotic diseases of national concern such as foot-and-mouth disease and highly pathogenic avian influenza,” O’Toole said.

            Twelve laboratories in the country each receive $300,000 annually, and another 16, including the WSVL, receive $70,000 a year.

            “The goal is to ensure each laboratory participating in the network is adequately funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture so they can equip and staff their units appropriately in the event of an animal-disease emergency,” O’Toole said.

           

Acting Wyoming State Veterinarian Walter Cook will discuss ramifications of the 2004 die-off of approximately 450 elk on the Red Rim southwest of Rawlins. Research into the cause of the deaths is continuing.

Other topics include livestock issues in severe winter storms, depopulation strategies in animal disease outbreaks, national animal identification issues and how they could help livestock producers in Wyoming and the region, infection control in animal facilities, anthrax and avian influenza.

Speakers represent a wide range of state and federal agencies, universities, veterinary practices, animal organizations, and medical associations in Wyoming and around the country. Among the other speakers from Wyoming are Dan O’Leary, a veterinarian with the Wyoming Department of Health; Lee Romsa, Wyoming Livestock Board’s state brand commissioner; Joe Moore, director of the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security; and Tim Graham, a private veterinarian in Basin.

The title of Moore’s presentation is “Discussion of Key Wyoming Vulnerabilities.”

Jamie Snow, state public health veterinarian with the Wyoming Department of Health, is on the BEAR conference committee.

Student and adult registration fees vary from $40 to $100 for attending one or both days. For information, contact Leventhal at (303) 318-0447. Details are also on the Web at www.cosart.org/documents/BEARRegistrationForm2007_001.pdf.

The conference is presented by the Rocky Mountain Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases at Colorado State University. Sponsors include the Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation, American Humane, Petfinder.com Foundation and The Humane Society of the United States.

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