Spatial Analysis of Mass Burial Carcass Disposal Regulations
International Animal By-Products Symposium, University of Maine, 2011
Raghavan Srinivasan, Jennifer Jacobs, and Kimberly Hart
“Widespread livestock death can be caused by natural disaster or animal disease, through accidental introduction or as an act of bioterrorism. In any case, the disposal of large numbers of livestock carcasses is a challenging, yet extremely sensitive, component of any recovery effort, in terms of food security, environmental impacts, and economic loss. Proactive planning efforts are vital to the expediency of such efforts, as evidenced by the difficulties experienced in the UK in 2001 in the incineration of livestock carcasses following a Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak. The four most common methods of carcass disposal identified in the current literature are burial, incineration, composting, and rendering. Of these, burial is often the chosen method based on the logistical and economic advantages.
Mass burial suitability for Texas.
“In this study a spatially explicit indexing methodology was used to evaluate mass burial carcass disposal environmental and biosecurity regulations for California, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. The mass burial regulations for each state, as well as relevant geospatial data, e.g. soils, topography, hydrology, and land use, were obtained and used to identify the areas available for mass burial. In general, the results of this work have identified inconsistencies between states, the lack of comprehensive response plans within states, and a lack of readily available, high quality spatial data for site identification.”
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