Lansing - The Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) continues to prepare for emergency response by participating in real-time activities such as the first bi-state exercise, funded by the Multi-State Partnership for Security in Agriculture, specifically designed to test interstate coordination and the logistics of implementing quarantine measures ordered by state animal health officials.
 
Last week, MDA sent emergency responders to the Kansas/Oklahoma border to participate in a real-time exercise simulating the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the United States.  FMDis an extremely contagious foreign animal disease of cloven-hoofed ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloven-hoof) animals such as cattle ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle), sheep ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_sheep), goats ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goat), pigs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig), bison ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bison) and cervids.

"In a real event, we would have to work with multiple entities at the local, state, and federal level, and this exercise was a tremendous step in understanding the resources that are available to us," said MDA Emergency Manager Brad Deacon.  "We have learned how to request help, and how to work with other local, state, and federal agencies toward a common goal."
 
Exercise activities were conducted in the state capitals and on the Kansas/Oklahoma border.  The scenario was based on a simulated outbreak of FMD in the eastern United States.  Traditionally, states have exercised their plans for responding to an outbreak within their borders, and this was a new challenge that had not been exercised in either state previously.
 
In early October 2009, MDA also conducted a full scale exercise simulating and testing multi-agency emergency responders' roles in the event of a highly contagious avian influenza disease outbreak. MDA partnered with the Ottawa County Emergency Manager who helped coordinate the local resources needed for the poultry disease response outbreak including perimeter and on-site security, generators, water, a mobile command center, as well as personnel to operate the tools. 
 
"As we've seen repeatedly in animal agriculture, any emergency situation is going to draw in a wide range of other agencies and disciplines," said George House, President of the Michigan Allied Poultry Industry.  "Knowing who they are, what they do, and how they oversee humane euthanasia, are all critical components to a disease outbreak response." 
 
Disease response training opportunities are complex events and are critical to having a well-trained team of responders.  MDA has completed a series of animal disease response exercises over the last several years testing a variety of capabilities including, but not limited to: bio-security, animal handling, and sample collection/chain of custody, use of 800 Megahertz radios, and incident planning and management. 
 
MDA conducted the October 2009 event with support from the Berlin Fair Board in Marne, Michigan State University Extension, Janssen's Farms Hatcheries, the Michigan Allied Poultry Industry, the U.S Department of Agriculture, Michigan State Police, Ottawa County Emergency Management, Ottawa County Sheriff's Department, Marne and Ferrysburg Fire Departments, the Michigan Volunteer Defense Force, Ottawa County Road Commission, and the CAFSCO Company.
 
"We appreciate the planning and work that went into this," House said. "Especially the opportunity to practice a humane euthanasia technique that decreases stress and injury to poultry and that is safer for emergency responders." 
 
For more information on agriculture emergency response in Michigan, please visit www.michigan.gov/mda.
 
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