This has been brought up and there are people working on it.  It seems to
me that a veterinarian that takes the time to learn about bees and is
willing to examine a hive and is willing to take on the risk of writing
either a veterinary feed directive or prescription should be able to sign a
health certificate.  Veterinarians do this for other species, why not for
bees?  My training for examining 100,000 chickens at a time to go to Canada
involved about 15 minutes on the phone with a USDA veterinarian after going
through veterinary school which did include many hours of chicken classes.
 My training as a bee inspector involved having 6 years of beekeeping
experience prior to getting the job and then getting a 3 day ride along
with an experienced inspector.  Neither of these seemed very extensive.
The key to doing both jobs well was to have a good idea of what was normal
and then to look and pay attention to find the abnormal.

Making sure that a veterinarian is capable of doing the inspections is
important.  The overseeing agency (state veterinarian's office and/or state
apiary inspector's office) does not want to be embarrassed by the actions
of the veterinarian.  There are veterinarians out there that do know bees,
but that is not all of them.  How do we sort that out?  The veterinarians
have a system of USDA Accreditation where they prove their abilities and
qualify for "official" jobs within the regulatory structure of the state.
Accreditation category 1 is for veterinarians that only work with dogs and
cats that may need to write health charts for a dog or cat that is going
across state lines.  Most states do not seem to examine dog and cat
movement in depth, but Hawaii takes it very seriously as they have not had
rabies in the state and do not want to import it.

There is also Category 2 accreditation for livestock and horse
veterinarians.  This level requires closer work with the state and the USDA
and requires more continuing education.  The education is produced by the
USDA.  There is a honey bee disease module that is currently being
developed but has not been released yet.

I talked with some folks in Massachusetts last year.  There was a person
with bees in a neighboring state that did not have a bee inspector.  The
inspector position was not funded and empty, so no state bee inspections
were available.  Mass required her to have an inspection of her bees before
bringing them to her new home in Mass.  Since it was impossible to have
them inspected before the move, she was given the option to sell the bees
and buy more when she moved to Mass or to try harder to find a bee
inspector in the state.  She just moved them anyways.  She would have paid
a veterinarian for a certificate.  This example may seem far fetched for
people that move tractor trailer loads of bees around, but it is one that
is probably becoming more common as the hobbyist part of the beekeeping
industry grows.

In NY, we are working on a program that could hopefully be a model for
others to use.  Hopefully we will have some information released soon.

I do not think we will have veterinarians examining large commercial lots,
but could with the new system.   There is no mechanism in place to allow
that now.  We are working on setting up the mechanism to allow veterinary
inspection of bees In NY, we also have a very limited inspection service.
With veterinarians qualified, there may be ability of the beekeeper to get
help if needed more quickly.  There may also be ability of the hobbyist
beekeeper to get licensed, qualified help with bee disease issues.  We may
also eliminate some of the movement of bees that is illegal by having
inspection services more readily available.  For a state that is looking to
limit its expenses, this opens up services that cost the state very
little.

I will post another email in response to the other message on taking your
bees to the veterinarian.

Chris


-- 
Christopher J Cripps, DVM
Betterbee
8 Meader Rd
Greenwich, NY 12834
800-632-3379 ext 8001
518-290-3168 direct line, fax and text
[log in to unmask]

-- 


This email message and any files transmitted are for the sole use of the 
intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged 
information. Any unauthorized review; use, disclosure or distribution is 
prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the 
sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. 
Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely 
those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Betterbee 
®. Betterbee ® accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus or 
any other malicious software transmitted by this email.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html