The Honorable H. Q. Sibley Opinion No. H-867
Executive Director
Texas Animal Health Commission He: Texas Animal Health
1020 Sam Houston State Office Commission authority in
Building tick eradication "free
Austin, Texas 78701 area" and related questions.
Dear Doctor Sibley:
you ask whether the Texas Animal Health Commission
inspectors have authority to conduct fever tick inspections
of cattle located in a "Free Area" of the state. The question
is raised in the context of two particular situations:
1. Where a fever tick has been discovered
on an animal in transit and the infected
animal is traced to a herd formerly located
on particular premises in the free area: and
2. where premises located in a free area
are suspected of fever tick infestation
because the premises are adjacent to an area
designated a "tick eradication area" but
where the Commission has no direct evidence
that the premises are tick infested.
The Texas Constitution makes special provision for the
regulation of livestock and the protection of stock raisers.
See Tex. Const. art. 16, 5 23. Pursuant to that authority,
s Texas Legislature has passed various laws, including
article 7014g-1, V,T.C.S., to guard against and arrest the
spread of animal diseases. Pertinent sections of that article,
the Tick Eradication Law, provide:
p" 3653
The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 2 (H-867)
Sec. 1. It shall be the duty of the
[Animal Health Commission] . . . to
eradicate the fever-carrying tick 1 . .
in the State of Texas . " . .
Sec. 2. . . . The 'Free Area' is . . .
composed of those counties and parts of
counties in Texas which the [Animal Health
Commission] may designate as the Free Area
. . . the 'Tick Eradication Area' is
composed of those counties and parts of
counties designated for tick eradication by
the [Animal Health Commission] . . . .
Whenever a tick is found upon any cattle, horses,
mules, jacks, and jennets, every head of such
live stock in said herd or which are located
in the same pasture, pen, lot or in the
same enclosure or upon the same range --
or that
shall thereafter be located therein or there-
upon, shall be classed as tick infes=d and
said pasture, pen, lot, enclosure or open
range in which and upon which they were
located shall be classed as tick infested. . . .
. . * *
Sec. 20. Owners . . e caretakers . . .
and persons accompanying and connected with
. . * the movement of any cattle, horses, mules,
jacks or jennets . . moved, in any part of
the State of Texas, at any time during the
preceding sixty days, shall be required, when
requested by an inspector of the [Animal
Health Commission1 to make a written state-
ment of the county and name of the owner or
Tnxntrol ofthexdwh=
--- said move-
--
mwoxginated . . . .
. . ? L
Sec. 24, All inspectors appointed by the
[Animal Health Commission] , . . are hereby
authorized to enter upon any private or public
property --
fortheperformance of any dxy-or
exercise of anx authority providedisis
--
Act . = . .
p. 3654
. .
The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 3 (H-867)
Sec. 25. The (Animal Health Commission]
is authorized and directed to establish
quarantines in the Free Area on account of
tick infestation or exposure therein whenever
it becomes necessary . . . . Tick eradication
shall be conducted in said Free Area under the
same provisions and penalties as provided in
this Act for conducting the same in the Tick
Eradication Area, and & shall be the futy of
caretakers of cattle,rses, mu es,
ja;ki and jennetsTocatedinsaidPree Area to
cooperate with said Commission tick eradi-
cation undzh=ovisions of ZisAct the
same as relate to the Tick Eradication Area
whenever tick eradication is required to be
conducted in the Free Area. . . . (Emphasis
added).
We think these provisions of the Tick Eradication Law
make clear that in the situations you describe, the Animal
Health Commission has ample authority to require persons
having control of suspected premises in a free area to allow
a tick inspection by commission inspectors of the cattle
located there
(Tex. Crim. A,p.%?$!%f~C%%d2~: ~~?'ftgg?20 S.W.2d
112 (Tex. Civ. ADD. -- Sai&tonio 193E writ dism'dl:
Attorney General-Opinions H-195 (1974),.H-148 (1973);
You also inquire if the Commission, on a selective
basis, might require livestock markets that receive cattle
from high risk areas (premises reasonably believed infected)
to provide scratching chute facilities at private expense
for fever tick inspection of the animals by Commission
inspectors. Scratching chutes are alleyways wide enough for
animals to file through singly, and are constructed so that
widely-spaced rails on the sides will allow inspectors to
reach through and physically examine the animals.
Section 23 of the Tick Eradication Law deals with the
maintenance of tick-free stock yards. It specifies:
p. 3655
The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 4 (H-867)
All owners and operators in control of any
stock yards . . . which . . . are open to
the public . . . shall maintain clean tick-free
pens, alleys, chutes and facilities where
such live stock . . . may be received,
yarded, weighed and sold . . . without being
subject to exposure to tick infestation, and
such live stock shall be afforded all necessary
facilities for such purposes , , . and the . . .
Commission is herebv authorized to enforce the
provisions of this Act . . . designating such
facilities as may be necessary --
for the proper
~~n~~~~qs:~c~atd.s'ofk yards of . . . movements
Any stock yards company,
owners, operators or persons in char-se of stock
yards, that fail or refuse to provide and complete
such facilities as may be directed by said Com-
mission . . . shall be fined . . . . (Emphasis
added).
In light of this statute, we believe that the Commission
may selectively require stock yards to construct scratching
chute facilities where the facilities are reasonably deemed
necessary by the Commission to the proper, tick-free handling
of cattle at the yards. Cf. Johnson v. Texas Animal Health
Commission, 520 S.W.2d 81mTex. Civ.App; -- Houston=
Dist.] 1975, no writ).
Your last question asks if the Commission has the
statutory authority to promulgate rules allowing animals
shipped from outside Texas and designated as slaughter
animals, other than cattle, sheep and hogs, to go to a
livestock market without a health certificate,
Article 7014f-1, V.T.C.S., relates to the eradication
of diseases among livestock and domestic fowls. Section 9
of that law specifies:
It shall be unlawful for any person . . .
to . e * move from any state, territory or
foreign country into any county in the
State ot Texas i 0 . any cattle (except
steers and spayed heifers), horses, mules,
asses, sheep, goats, hogs, domestic animals
p. 3656
.
The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 5 W-867)
or domestic fowls, except as hereinafter
provided, unless the same are accompanied
by a health certificate issued by a veteri-
narian authorized by or recognized by the
Texas Animal Health Commission . . . .
Cattle and sheep and hogs billed and shipped
for immxate slaughter purposes shall be
admitted into the State --
of Texas withour
certification,treatment, vaccina-n or
-
testing. (Emphasis added).
Except for steers and spayed heifers, "cattle, horses,
mules, asses, sheep, goats, hogs, domestic animals [and]
domestic fowls" can legally enter Texas only if they are
accompanied by the proper health certificate. The only
deviation permitted concerns cattle, sheep, and hogs (but
not other animals) billed and shipped for immediate slaughter
purposes which go directly to slaughtering facilities.
Consequently, we answer your last question in the negative.
SUMMARY
The Animal Health Commission has authority
to require the inspection for ticks of herds
located on premises in a "free area" sus-
pected of infestation, and it has authority
to selectively require stock yards to construct
scratching chute facilties at private expense
for the inspection of cattle for ticks. with
the exception of cattie, sheep, and hogs going
directly to slaughtering facilities, the
Commission does not have authority to allow
animals shipped from outside Texas and desig-
nated as slaughter animals to go to a livestock
market without a health certificate.
Very truly yours,
Attorney General of Texas
p. 3657
The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 6 (H-867)
DAVID M./RFNDALL,
Opinion Committee
jwb
p. 3658
Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Combined Opinion