State authority to Westport: Inspections the rule everywhere farm animals kept

Cahill says BOH has legal authority to establish animal registry

By Bruce Burdett
Posted 1/16/20

WESTPORT — The state requires inspection of every property in Westport where traditional farm animals are kept, …

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State authority to Westport: Inspections the rule everywhere farm animals kept

Cahill says BOH has legal authority to establish animal registry

Posted

WESTPORT — The state requires inspection of every property in Westport where traditional farm animals are kept, even a place where only one such animal, the town’s Board of Health (BOH) was told last week.

Furthermore, the town’s Board of Health has the authority to collect its own information if it chooses — that happens in about half the towns in Massachusetts where farm animals are kept. 

Michael Cahill, director of the animal health program at Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, visited Westport from Boston Wednesday to describe the state’s Barn Book inspection process and to answer farm animal questions.

It’s a hotly debated issue in town: Despite the snow and the fact that the meeting was held at the unusual time of 11:30 a.m., the subject matter filled the meeting room. 

Mr. Cahill’s visit came in the wake of the BOH’s recent approval of a new farm animal registry and a resulting petition effort by farmers to overturn that registry by way of a Right to Farm bylaw rewrite.

In an opening statement and in response to BOH questions, Mr. Cahill spoke about the Barn Book, the authority of the BOH to establish a registry, sharing of Barn Book data with town emergency staff, and more.

Barn Book

Required Barn Book inspections are conducted starting in September every year by a town animal inspector on behalf of the state. 

The purpose, Mr. Cahill said, is to ensure that the animals appear healthy and do not have any infectious disease “that’s either unnoticed by the owner or ignored by the owner.”

The inspections also aim to make sure that the animals receive appropriate care — adequate water, food, shelter — and that the property is well cared for, “so that they aren’t knee deep in manure and so forth.”

Inspectors are also tasked with providing a head count “of what species are on the property “so that we can better enhance our emergency response plans for disease outbreaks” or for some natural disaster or other emergency.

“The right to conduct the inspections is written into law,” he said, “but we still have to be conscious of Fourth Amendment rights for any property owner.”

Inspectors need permission to go onto any property, he said. If that is refused, access can be gained by obtaining a warrant. Mr. Cahill said they make appointments for Barn Book inspection “but we intentionally do not want too much advance notice because we want to see the property as it would normally be maintained … “Less than two weeks,” is the goal, “three days is probably ideal.”

The state is required by federal law to collect such information on “traditional farm animals” — sheep, goats, horses, cattle, swine and poultry — no matter how many. “Borderline” species include alpacas and other exotics. Dogs and cats are not included, nor are rabbits if kept as pets. Rabbits raised for meat or breeding are included.

Even if you have just one pet chicken, “that species potentially represents an issue for disease transmission to other properties so it is important that we know where it is.”

Confidentiality

Information gathered by the town inspector goes directly to the state and is confidential, Mr. Cahill said. That data is not shared with the town Board of Health but can be shared with a town’s emergency management department.

“I will tell you that the exemption (confidentiality) has created a lot of problems here in Westport,” BOH member Maury May said. “I know you think it is done for public safety but it prevents us from doing our job and it prevents the Police Department from doing its job.”

“The Police Department would have access to that information and I don’t know how it prevents you from doing your job because you have the same authority to collect information,” Mr. Cahill replied.

Pressed on that later, he said he would provide any of the information to the town’s emergency management director — in this case Westport’s fire chief. He need only contact me to get it, he said.

Board of Health authority

While the Board of Health does not have access to Barn Book data, “you have your own statutory authority to collect that same information under Chapter 111, Section 155” of state law, Mr. Cahill told the BOH. He said that boards of health do just that in about half of the 300 towns in Massachusetts where farm animals are kept.

“As Mike has clearly stated,” the BOH has the legal authority to establish an animal registry, BOH member Tanja Ryden said. While there may be a small amount of repetition, she said she does not believe a one-time registration with updates for major changes is burdensome, and it can provide the Westport with important information about farm animals for public health purposes.

Later, audience member Constance Gee said that, while between 107 and 111 properties receive Barn Book inspection, the Agricultural Commission chairman estimated that from 200 to 400 properties with farm animals avoid inspection altogether.

When Mr. Cahill agreed that the state wants information from every farm, Ms. Gee asked if he agrees that the BOH has the authority to “require that anyone who has livestock …register with the town.

It has the authority, he agreed, but even if there is a registry, “there is no guarantee that everyone will register.”

Perhaps, he said, the inspectors “need to look harder. I would always ask the animal inspector to go out and keep an eye open and find every one they can.”

Several audience members said they believe the registry is both repetitive and unnecessary.

Antone Vieira Jr. suggested that the town enforce the regulations we have “as opposed to passing more regulations.” Getting government “more involved in something they know nothing about doesn’t help the situation.”

Rather than blame animal lovers for the inconvenience, audience member Kathy Feininger said it seems to make sense that a single inspection per farm should suffice.

Westport, Dartmouth — the South Coast in general — are perhaps the foremost areas for animal agriculture in Massachusetts, rivaled only by the the western part of the state, Mr. Cahill said. He said he  is “clamoring to get another state inspector to cover this area.”

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