Regulations governing the treatment and quarantine of imported cattle., June 8, 1883

Regulations governing the treatment and quarantine of imported cattle.

[1883.—Department No. 76, Secretary’s Office.]

To collectors and other officers of the customs:

1. All cattle arriving in the United States from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, or New Zealand shall be subjected to a quarantine of ninety days, counting from the date of shipment.

It shall be the duty of the veterinary inspector at each port to see that the cattle imported shall be securely guarded against the risk of transmitting or receiving contagion until they shall have entered quarantine grounds. He shall also be superintendent of the quarantine, and shall have charge of the grounds, buildings, yards, and all property thereto belonging.

Collectors of customs are requested to co-operate with the veterinary inspectors and health authorities in enforcing these regulations, and will take such action as the facts and regulations may require.

2. Imported cattle shall be examined by the Government veterinary inspector before they leave the wharves, and if any are there found to be suffering from any of the following diseases—lung plague, rinderpest, aphthous (eczematous) fever—they shall not be admitted to the established quarantine grounds, but shall be quarantined elsewhere, at the expense of the importer, or be dealt with in such other manner as the veterinary inspector, in co-operation with the State or municipal authorities, shall determine.

3. In case of imported animals proving to be thus infected, such portions of the cargo of the vessel as have been exposed to the cattle or their emanations shall be subjected, under the direction of an inspector, to fumigation with the gas from burning sulphur, or to such other disinfection as may be considered by the veterinary inspector of the port necessary, before they can be landed.

4. No litter, fodder, or other aliment, nor any ropes, straps, chains, girths, blankets, poles, buckets, or other things used for or about the animals, and no manure shall be landed, excepting under such regulations as the veterinary surgeon shall provide.

5. On moving cattle from the ocean steamer to the quarantine grounds they shall not be unnecessarily passed over any highway, but must be placed on the cars at the wharves, or removed to the cars on a boat which is not used for conveying other cattle. If such boat has carried sheep, goats, or swine within three months antecedent, it must be first cleansed and then disinfected under the supervision of the veterinary inspector, and alter the conveyance of the imported cattle the boat shall be disinfected in the same manner before it can be again used for the conveyance of cattle. The expense of such disinfection shall be paid by the United States. When passage across or upon a public highway is unavoidable in the transportation of imported cattle from the place of landing to the quarantine grounds, it must be under such careful supervision and restrictions as the veterinary inspector may, in special cases, direct.

6. The banks or chutes used for loading and unloading imported cattle shall be reserved for such animals, or shall he cleansed and disinfected, as above, before and after being used for such imported cattle.

7. The railway cars used in the transportation of cattle to the quarantine grounds shall either be cars reserved for this exclusive use or box cars not otherwise employed in the transportation of meat animals or their fresh products, and after each journey with cattle to the quarantine grounds they shall be disinfected by thorough cleansing and disinfecting under the direction of the Government veterinary inspector. The charge for such disinfection shall be paid by the United States.

8. While cattle are arriving at the quarantine stations, or leaving them, all quarantined stock in the yards adjoining the alley-ways through which they must pass shall be rigidly confided to their sheds.

9. Cattle arriving by the same ship may be quarantined together in one yard and shed, but those coming on different ships shall, in all cases, be placed in separate yards.

10. The gates of all yards shall be kept locked, except when cattle are entering or leaving quarantine.

11. The attendants on cattle in particular yards are forbidden to enter other yards and buildings, except such as are occupied by stock of the same shipment with those under their special care. No dogs, cats, or other animals, except those necessarily present, shall be allowed in the quarantine grounds.

12. The allotment of yards shall be under the direction of the veterinary inspector of the port, who shall keep a register of the cattle entered, with description, name of owner, name of vessel in which imported, date of arrival and release, and other important particulars.

13. The veterinary inspector shall see that water is regularly furnished to the stock, and the manure removed daily, and that the prescribed rules of the station are enforced.

14. Food and attendance must be provided by the owners of the stock quarantined. Employés of such owners shall keep the sheds and yards clean, to the satisfaction of the veterinary inspector.

15. “Smoking” is strictly forbidden within any quarantine inclosure.

16. No visitor shall be admitted to the quarantine station without special written permission from the collector of customs of the port, the veterinary inspector, or a member of the Treasury Cattle Commission. Butchers, cattle dealers, and their employés are especially excluded.

17. No public sale shall be allowed within the quarantine grounds.

18. The inspector shall, in his daily rounds, so far as possible take the temperature of each animal, commencing with the herds that have been longest in quarantine and ending with the most recent arrivals, and shall record such temperatures on lists kept for the purpose. In passing from one herd to another, he shall invariably wash his thermometer and hands in a weak solution (1 to 100) of carbolic acid.

19. In case of the appearance of any disease that is diagnosed to be of a contagious nature, the veterinary inspector shall notify the chairman or other professional member of the Treasury Cattle Commission, who shall visit the station personally, or send a delegate; and, on the confirmation of the diagnosis, the herd shall be disposed of according to the gravity of the affection.

20. If the disease should prove to be one of the exotic plagues—lung plague or rinderpest—the animals shall be dealt with in such manner as the veterinary inspector, in co-operation with the State or municipal authorities, shall determine.

21. The yard and shed in which such disease shall have appeared shall be subjected to a thorough disinfection. Litter and fodder shall be burned. Sheds, utensils, and other appliances shall be disinfected as the veterinary inspector may direct. The yard-fence and manure box shall be freely sprinkled with a strong solution of chloride of lime. The flooring of the shed shall be lifted, and the whole shall be left open to the air and unoccupied for three months.

22. If the contagious disease shall prove to be aphthous fever, anthrax, Texas fever, cow-pox, diphtheria, or scabies, the infected herd shall be rigidly confined to its shed, where disinfectants shall be freely used, and the attendants shall be forbidden all intercourse with the attendants in other yards, and with persons outside the quarantine grounds.