Aboveground burial for managing catastrophic losses of livestock

Abstract

Background and Aim: Environmental impacts from carcass management are a significant concern globally. Despite a history of costly, ineffective, and environmentally damaging carcass disposal efforts, large animal carcass disposal methods have advanced little in the past decade. An outbreak today will likely be managed with the same carcass disposal techniques used in the previous decades and will likely result in the same economic, health, and environmental impacts. This article overviews the results of one field test that was completed in Virginia (United States) using the aboveground burial (AGB) technique and the disposal of 111 foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) infected sheep in Tunisia using a similar methodology.

Virus viability in spiked swine bone marrow tissue during above‐ground burial method and under in vitro conditions

“…The newly developed above‐ground burial (AGB) technique, also knwon as large scale shallow burial with carbon, emerges as an attractive alternative for carcass management (Miller & Flory, 2018 ). The method involves placing the animal carcasses in shallow trenches, over a layer of organic compost, such as wood shavings, and covering the carcasses with a thin layer of soil (Flory et al., 2017 ). The superficial burial method allows for the effective aerobic decomposition of the tissues by the active microbiome found in the soil's upper layers (Flory et al., 2017 ).…”

“…The method involves placing the animal carcasses in shallow trenches, over a layer of organic compost, such as wood shavings, and covering the carcasses with a thin layer of soil (Flory et al., 2017 ). The superficial burial method allows for the effective aerobic decomposition of the tissues by the active microbiome found in the soil's upper layers (Flory et al., 2017 ). The technique also has the potential to solve some of the logistical, practical, and environmental problems associated with other carcass management options (Flory et al., 2017 ).…”

“…The superficial burial method allows for the effective aerobic decomposition of the tissues by the active microbiome found in the soil's upper layers (Flory et al., 2017 ). The technique also has the potential to solve some of the logistical, practical, and environmental problems associated with other carcass management options (Flory et al., 2017 ).…”

Challenges and opportunities for using national animal datasets to support foot‐and‐mouth disease control

“…This unclassified spread over short distances has at times been labelled under the heading "local spread" due to a lack of resources to investigate every infectious event. Failure to have sufficient sites available to bury infected animals resulted in disease spread in Japan which delayed eradication efforts (Flory et al, 2017;Hayama et al, 2012;Muroga et al, 2013).…”

“…This unclassified spread over short distances has at times been labelled under the heading “local spread” due to a lack of resources to investigate every infectious event. Failure to have sufficient sites available to bury infected animals resulted in disease spread in Japan which delayed eradication efforts (Flory et al., 2017; Hayama et al., 2012; Muroga et al., 2013). Aside from immediate impact on disease spread, insufficient planning for associated disposal activities has numerous impacts that may extend many years after the end of an outbreak and can include economic losses, groundwater contamination and air pollution from burial sites (Gwyther et al., 2011; Hseu & Chen, 2017; Joung et al., 2013; Kim and Kim, 2012).…”