Changes To Compensation Paid For Animals Ordered Destroyed, Canada

Main Category: Veterinary
Article Date: 14 Aug 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has updated the schedule of amounts payable for compensation to owners of animals ordered destroyed for disease control purposes. The regulations were last updated in 2000.

"The CFIA's compensation program, complemented by other support initiatives will help lessen the economic and social impact on producers," noted Minister Strahl. "This also underscores the priority that Canada's New Government places on helping producers maintain healthy animals and strong operations."

The changes were developed following extensive consultation with industry and government stakeholders and are designed to better reflect the market value of an animal. Maximum amounts payable for all animal categories have been updated and the list of eligible animals has been expanded.

Compensation amounts will increase in some animal categories, such as breeding stock of higher genetic value. For example, compensation for turkey parent and grandparent breeder birds, which was limited to $50 per bird, has been increased to a maximum of $90 and $270 respectively. As well, the compensation amount for registered purebred cattle, which was limited to $2,500 per animal, has been increased to a maximum of $8,000. In other categories the maximum amounts remain the same or have decreased.

Consistent methodology, using verifiable market information or sound economic models, was applied to determine values across all animal categories. Where economic models were used, the maximum amounts have been increased by 25 per cent from that generated by the model to allow for inflation and market fluctuations that may occur prior to the next review being conducted.

The goal of the CFIA's compensation program is to encourage animal owners to promptly report serious animal diseases. It is an important component of the CFIA's disease control efforts. The CFIA compensates animal owners based on evaluations conducted at the time the animal is ordered destroyed up to maximum amounts established by regulation to enable them to replace destroyed animals.

Canada's New Government will have also provided a total of $4.5 billion to farmers through Budget 2006 and Budget 2007 measures. Much of this funding is being invested to replace the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization (CAIS) program with improved national agriculture risk management programs.

Progress is being made towards a new suite of Business Risk Management programs that includes a new margin-based program, a producer savings account with a cost of production component, a disaster relief framework and expanded production insurance. This new suite of programs is subject to agreements by federal, provincial and territorial governments.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency