CONTENTS TSE Freedom Assurance Program What is a TSE? The History of Australia's TSE Measures National TSE Surveillance Program Australian Ruminant Feed Ban Imported Animal Quarantine and Surveillance Research and Development Training Emergency Preparedness Links

Australia has been recognised by its trading partners as free from transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and scrapie. After extensive consultation, the Australian governments, livestock industries and the scientific community agreed that cattle imported from countries with recorded cases of BSE, may have been exposed to the agent which causes BSE before arriving in Australia. Consequently, as a precautionary measure, it was agreed that these animals should not enter the human or animal food chains in Australia.

The importation of live sheep and goats from all countries except New Zealand has been prohibited since 1952. Australia has suspended the importation of cattle from European countries, and this was extended in 2001 to include Japan, in 2003 to include Canada and in 2004 to include the U.S.

Cattle imported from countries that subsequently have reported BSE cases have been traced, and those remaining alive at the time have been placed under permanent quarantine in accordance with Section 55A, Regulation 36 of the Commonwealth Quarantine Act (1908). This section of the Act prohibits the unauthorised movement of cattle, or their sale for slaughter, and ensures that their carcases will be disposed of in an approved manner upon death or destruction. All of these cattle have been permanently identified in accordance with the National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS) and their details recorded in the NLIS database. These measures allow the normal commercial management of the animals, but prohibit their use for the production of human or animal food.

Some imported cattle were slaughtered before BSE was reported in their country of origin. However, scientific risk assessments have shown that there is a negligible likelihood that BSE became established within the Australian cattle herd as a result of the importation of cattle from Europe, Japan, Canada or the US.

Tracing of Cattle

Australia has an excellent capability to trace animals from markets back to the most recent property of residence and this has proved invaluable in disease eradication programs and emergency disease situations. This capability is being strengthened through a number of additional initiatives including the introduction of the National Livestock Identification Scheme (NLIS) providing whole-of-life traceability, including the continued use of a National Vendor Declaration system (NVD).

Surveillance of Zoo Animals

Live zoo animals have been imported into Australia from several countries reporting BSE in cattle. The diagnosis of feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE) in an imported cheetah in Broome zoo in 1992 and in an imported golden cat that died at Melbourne Zoo in 2002 demonstrated that TSE surveillance needed to include certain imported zoo animals.

This project aims to address the risks posed by animals imported from countries with cases of BSE by ensuring the death of any designated zoo animal is investigated in a nationally consistent manner, as defined in the NTSESP.

In order to meet these objectives a protocol for the 'Management of Designated Zoo Animals Imported from Countries at Risk from Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs)' was developed and implemented. This Protocol documents a national approach for the management of at-risk animals and the response to a positive TSE diagnosis in inventoried risk-animals within the Australian zoo population. This protocol applies to the following animals, which are referred to as "designated zoo animals":

BSE

All felidae, bovidae and primates imported from Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

All cervidae imported from USA and Canada.

Scrapie

All members of the genera Ovis and Capra, imported from any country except New Zealand.

It is important to note that there are no animals that fall into the CWD and Scrapie categories as listed above currently in Australian collections. Accordingly the protocol specifically deals with management of BSE-related issues only.

With the exception of scrapie and CWD of deer, TSEs affecting zoo animals are not contagious, and provided affected animals are kept out of the human and animal food chain, there is negligible risk of spread to in-contact animals and cohorts or contamination of the environment. Specific management measures are not required for progeny or in-contact animals, or animal enclosures. Management of designated zoo animals while they are alive involves minimal intervention, with the main focus being applied to diagnostic and disposal measures when these animals die or are euthanized.

Industry Based Tracing Schemes

The Cattle Tracing Scheme has been implemented and funded by the Australian cattle industry. The Scheme was first implemented in 1996 by Animal Health Australia as a voluntary scheme for addressing the risks of cattle imported from the UK and Switzerland. Since then, the Scheme has been expanded to include cattle from Europe, Japan, Canada and the US.  It is anticipated that if any other countries detect a native-born case of BSE, and cattle from that country have been imported to Australia, similar actions will be taken.

The Scheme provides the option to address the risks posed by BSE by offering owners compensation for the destruction of these cattle; otherwise continue to have cattle maintained under lifetime quarantine surveillance. This quarantine surveillance includes cattle being identified under the National Livestock Identification Scheme and an annual report of the animal's status by the owner.

All cattle destroyed under the scheme will have samples submitted for testing to rule out BSE, under the NTSESP.

Page updated: 22 May 2009