July 2, 2001 

Dear County Agricultural and Independent Agricultural Society Presidents:

Given the current heightened level of public concern about foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks abroad this spring, we are sending you this letter to reiterate what state animal health rules say about preventative measures you should take to protect your fair’s exhibition animals, and our advice how you should communicate on this issue with the public.  

We are proposing you take reasonable steps to prevent introduction of foot-and-mouth disease or any infectious animal disease at your fair. More important, we assume you have taken such precautions before this year, and will continue to do so in the future. Even though foot-and-mouth has made incursions in areas that have not seen it in decades, this disease is not new or rare in the world. In other words, we must impress upon you not only that the risk of FMD incursion in Ohio is real, but that the risk has always been real.

State administrative rules have long required certain sanitation and biosecurity procedures be undertaken to prevent exhibitors from causing a health threat to exhibition animals at fairs. Following these same rules this year will effectively help you to reach this goal, just as it has in the past. For example, the rules require a thorough disinfecting of stalls where exhibition animals are to be housed, an examination of animals’ certificates of veterinary inspection when required by the fair’s approved veterinarian, and a physical inspection of the animals for infectious or contagious disease by the fair veterinarian. The rules also allow the fair or the Ohio Department of Agriculture to order the immediate removal of any animal they suspect is placing other animals at unacceptable risk of disease, and prohibits exhibitors from showing animals that have symptoms of a contagious or infectious disease. For more information on these rules, please refer to the attached excerpts from Ohio Administrative Code, Chapter 901:1-18.

In communicating about this issue with the public, you may want to place a simple message on posters or in fair programs that briefly and calmly explain the threat and how fair patrons can cooperate in responding to it. Here is some sample language you may wish to adopt: “Help protect our animals from foot-and-mouth disease. Please do not enter our livestock areas if you have been out of the U.S. in the last five days. Foot-and-mouth disease is not in the U.S. and is not a danger to you, but you could possibly expose our animals to this serious infection.”

We hope this information is helpful to you in planning and taking appropriate sanitation and biosecurity measures and educating the public about it. If you have more questions, please feel free to call Dr. Lee McPhail, Assistant State Veterinarian, or me toll-free at 800-282-1955. 

Sincerely,

R. David Glauer, DVM
State Veterinarian