Kudos to the two agencies with the most working dogs, DoD and DHS, for their full concurrence with the GAO’s recommendations and detailed response indicating their planned actions. I’m disappointed USDA, the agency with the third most working dogs, simply informed GAO they had no comments. Of all the departments, Agriculture has the mission most closely aligned with animal health. It would have been really nice to see a more engaged role from them. 4/4

#NatSec #NationalSecurity #VetMed

GAO identified 18 areas as important to working dogs (see pic). It is astonishing to me that more than twice as many federally managed programs had rules about grooming but not about rest and length of on-duty time. Similarly only 22 of 40 programs had rules about abuse. Animals that are not well cared for will not perform optimally. It is both a humane issue and a mission success issue. 3/

#NatSec #NationalSecurity #VetMed

The pandemic made it worse, with the disruption both to establishing domestic programs and to research. An aging population of working dogs also underscores the need for good policy on their veterinary care, retirement, and euthanasia.

In October, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released Working Dogs: Federal Agencies Need to Better Address Health and Wellness. 2/

#NatSec #NationalSecurity #VetMed

https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-104489.pdf

Wired: "The US Has a Bomb-Sniffing Dog Shortage"

I first learned the US Government relies on Germany and the Netherlands for almost all of its working dogs from the amazing Cindy Otto DVM PhD at AVMA in 2019. I was both astonished by the #NationalSecurity threat it posed and that I had never heard of it before. As a #veterinarian working in the #CWMD space, it felt like something I should have already known. 1/

#NatSec #NationalSecurity #VetMed

https://www.wired.com/story/us-bomb-dog-shortage/

Its Another #TwitterMigration #Introduction

This account is focusing on #COVID #SARS2 #Risk #publichealthpolicy #pandemic #Masks #CovidIsAirborne b/c #CovidIsNotOver

Plus other societal risks around #NATSEC #DISINFO illiberalism & related policy that have popped up as a result

If you want #Technology, #Infrastructure or #INFOSEC don't follow me at zeroes.ca follow
@Winchester99

My general social account is
@EricCarroll@mastodon.social

I follow back from the account that matches what you mostly post.