Reporting obligations for owners of imported cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats and deer or embryos and semen from these animals

• Freephone
• Background
• Requirements of the regulations
• Other reporting obligations
• Penalties

Freephone

MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) has set up the Imported Animal Freephone number, 0800 MAF 555 (0800 623 555), to help the owners of imported animals meet their reporting obligations. If you need to contact MAFBNZ about imported animals, simply call the freephone number, follow the recorded message prompts, and leave a message and your contact details. You will then be contacted by NZFSA staff as soon as possible.

Background

The animal health status of New Zealand's livestock is recognised internationally as being of the highest standard. Maintaining this status is vital to ensuring that the animals, people and environment of New Zealand are protected and that the country continues to enjoy the considerable benefits associated with overseas trade in animals and their products.

New Zealand is free from diseases of livestock such as BSE and classical scrapie. The importation of live animals and animal products is controlled by requirements specified in Import Health Standards. These standards include measures to prevent the entry of exotic diseases into New Zealand. In addition, the owners of some types of imported animals and genetic material are required to comply with reporting obligations, as set out in the Biosecurity (Imported Animals, Embryos, and Semen Information) Regulations 1999. These reporting obligations aim to mitigate the risk of spread of exotic diseases should they be introduced into the country through imported animals.

Under the regulations, imported animals are specifically ear-tagged, and then tracked throughout life, following their arrival into the country. The reporting obligations do not apply to the offspring of imported animals.

The requirements of the regulations are summarised below:

• Reporting animal deaths

If the imported animal dies of illness or is put down due to illness you must, within four hours of death of the animal, call MAFBNZ's 24-hour Exotic Disease and Pest Emergency Hotline (0800 80 99 66), where an operator will take down the details. If you call the Imported Animal Freephone (0800 623 555), the voicemail system will transfer your call to the emergency hotline.

• On-farm verification

Once a year, a government official will visit your farm to physically verify the status of the imported animal(s). As agreed between MAFBNZ and New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA), on-farm verification is performed by the officials from NZFSA utilising the authority delegated to an Animal Product officer as outlined in the Animal Products Act 1999. NZFSA official will contact you in advance to agree on a convenient time and date. It is therefore important that we have your up-to-date contact details.

• Annual Status Report

Around April of each year NZFSA will post you the Annual Status Report (ASR), listing the details NZFSA holds on your imported animal(s). Please complete and return the ASR as soon as possible but not later than 30 June.

Other reporting obligations

Please call the Imported Animal Freephone within seven days if -

• The animal dies of injury or of old age. NZFSA would like the opportunity of collecting the brain for TSE (BSE, classical scrapie or CWD) testing. Since testing can be done only on a fresh brain, please leave your contact details on the freephone as soon as the death of the animal is known or its death is imminent. Alternatively, preserve the head of the animal in a refrigerator (but not in the freezer section of the fridge) while still fresh and leave a message for it to be collected by NZFSA. (Please do not place in any refrigerator used to store food for human consumption).
   
• You home-kill the animal. Advise NZFSA well ahead to enable an official to be present at the time of slaughter to collect its head for TSE testing. If prior notice is not possible, then you may preserve the head of the animal in a refrigerator (but not in the freezer section of the fridge) and leave a message on the freephone for the head to be collected by NZFSA. (Please do not place in any refrigerator used to store food for human consumption).
   
  Please note: Meat from home-killed imported cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats or deer can be used for the owner's purposes and, with restrictions, may be fed to the owner's farm or pet animals. The restrictions are:
   
  (a) such meat must never be fed to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats or deer [this is a prohibition under the Biosecurity (Ruminant Protein) Regulations 1999], and
   
  (b) before feeding to pigs such meat, or any food / feed that may have come in contact with meat, it must first be heated to 100° Celsius for one hour [this is a requirement under the Biosecurity (Meat and Waste Food for Pigs) Regulations 2005. Also see the note under the bullet point below].
   
  (c) Under the Declaration of a Controlled Area Order 2001, enacted to control hydatids (Echinococcus granulosus), the offal of all ruminants and pigs must be cooked by boiling for a minimum of 30 minutes before feeding to dogs. In addition, owners of dogs must control their dogs to prevent them from having access to raw offal from ruminants and pigs, including situations where these animals are home-killed.
   
• You send the animal to a slaughterhouse. Please leave details on the freephone about the animal slaughtered (species, breed, sex, MAF ID), date of slaughter, the name and address of the slaughterhouse, and your own contact details. Prior to sending the imported animal for slaughter, you will need to contact the slaughterhouse management. This will enable the staff there to notify the NZFSA official for decisions regarding market eligibility and brainstem collection. The MAF ear tags must be present on the imported animal. Against Section 2.2 of the Animal Status Declaration (which you will need to complete prior to sending the animal to the slaughterhouse), record the status of the animal as "Imported", i.e., tick the box for "Yes".
   
  Note: The Animal Products (Specifications for Products Intended for Animal Consumption) Notice 2006 prohibits the inclusion in food for animals / pet food products originating from imported animals. However, this restriction does not apply if the imported animal is home killed to feed the owner's farm or pet animals (please read the restrictions mentioned under the section on home-killing).
   
• You sell the animal or otherwise change ownership. Please leave the name and contact details of the buyer (as well as your own) so that MAFBNZ can advise the new owner of his/her regulatory obligations. It is your responsibility as well to inform the buyer of the reporting requirements under the Imported Animal Regulations.
   
• The animal is missing. Please leave details of the lost animal (species, breed, sex, MAF ID) as well as your own contact details.
   
• A MAF ear tag is lost or becomes illegible. An NZFSA official will arrange a suitable time with you to witness the application of replacement tag(s).
   
• Your contact details change. Having your up to date contact details is important in order for NZFSA to carry out the on-farm verification of the imported animals and to send you the Annual Status Report.
   
• The location of the animal changes. Please let MAFBNZ and /or NZFSA know if you move the imported animal(s) to a different location. You are required to advise this even if your own contact details remain the same.

Please note: The regulations and other circumstances, e.g. processes in slaughterhouses, pertaining to imported animals has meant that some owners have experienced difficulties in disposing of their animals that have reached the end of their functional lives. MAFBNZ strongly advises prospective owners of these animals to seriously consider the reporting obligations and other issues that they may encounter before deciding to import (or purchase previously imported) cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo or deer.

Penalties

Owners of imported cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats or deer who supply misleading information to MAFBNZ and /or NZFSA or who fail without reasonable excuse to notify the matters above in the time required commits an offence against the regulations. The maximum fine upon summary conviction is $5,000 for individuals and $15,000 for corporations.