Sec. 22-26f. State Veterinarian.
Sec. 22-26f. State Veterinarian. (a) There shall be a State Veterinarian who shall
be an employee of the Department of Agriculture and shall serve as the chief livestock
health official for the state.
(b) The State Veterinarian shall possess and retain during employment a license to
practice veterinary medicine in this state. The State Veterinarian shall possess and retain
federal accreditation in this state through the United States Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and shall have not less than three years
experience in large animal practice.
(c) The State Veterinarian shall (1) act as the official state epidemiologist for animal
and poultry diseases, (2) coordinate state and federal governmental agencies and livestock and poultry producers to control diseases, and (3) administer and guide the development and management of disease control and eradication programs performed by the
department. The State Veterinarian shall act as liaison with other units in the department,
other state agencies and other officials regarding policies concerning disease control
and cruelty to animals and shall supervise the quarantine and disposal of animals and
poultry condemned because of disease.
(d) The State Veterinarian may issue orders to prevent the spread of contagious and
infectious diseases among animals and poultry and may protect the public from such
diseases as may be transmissible to human beings, either directly or through the products
of such animals.
(e) The State Veterinarian shall annually issue a list of reportable animal and avian
diseases and reportable laboratory findings and amend such list as the State Veterinarian
deems necessary. The State Veterinarian shall distribute such list as well as any necessary forms and instructions for use in the reporting of such diseases to each veterinarian
licensed in this state and to each diagnostic laboratory that conducts tests on animals or
birds in this state.
(P.A. 93-205; P.A. 01-12; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 146(f); P.A. 04-189, S. 1; P.A. 08-13, S. 2.)
History: P.A. 01-12 made technical changes for the purpose of gender neutrality in Subsecs. (b) and (c) and added
Subsec. (e) re annual list of reportable animal and avian diseases; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 replaced Department of
Agriculture with Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 04-189 repealed Sec.
146 of June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, thereby reversing the merger of the Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Protection,
effective June 1, 2004; P.A. 08-13 amended Subsec. (b) to change State Veterinarian large animal practice experience
requirement from 7 to 3 years, effective April 29, 2008.