October 26, 2006 - Bandera and Blanco Counties added their support to the fight again mandatory NAIS today with the signing of County Resolutions stating opposition to the ID system. Concerned citizens applauded as the unanimous vote was tallied in Bandera. Judge Evans stated, “This program was obviously put together by someone who’s never been on a ranch or around animals.” The overall sentiment of the Commissioner’s Court resembled the Judge’s. Commissioner Keese said, “This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. I want to see them catch and slaughter all the wild pigs on my place. In fact, I wish they’d try, because I can’t get it done.”
Other commissioners expressed concerns about the unprecedented cost of monitoring county grounds for the purpose of tracking animals, the added financial burden placed on county residents in the form of fees for premises registration, tagging, filing reports, and identifying animals at every location such as sale barns, show grounds, rodeo, grounds, and veterinary offices. “Small operators can’t absorb these kinds of expenses and stay in business,” said Commissioner King.
The motion to sign the Resolution was brought forth by county citizens and headed by Karen Brown of Solitaire Ranch. “I represent myself as a citizen of this county, as the owner of a horse training and boarding operation that is dependent upon livestock for its business, and as a property owner who will be required by law to participate in the program. I oppose the program in all these capacities for many reasons,” she stated.
Ms. Brown started her presentation by making the salient point that regardless of a person’s opinion on the validity of a national ID and tracking system, NAIS, as designed, is doomed for failure for one simple reason. “The technology that NAIS is completely dependent upon is flawed. Every animal will be required to have an electronic tag or chip attached to its body. That chip will be encoded with a unique 15-digit number that will identify that animal for its entire life. NAIS is completely dependent on the security and integrity of the tagging devices and the database.
“But, the device that USDA has chosen for the program is designed to be reprogrammed. Anybody can legally purchase the equipment to change or erase the information placed on the tag/chip. Therefore, any person can walk through a pasture or sale barn and change the identification information of animals to any number or no number. There is no security possible with such a system and therefore, the system is subject to a myriad of abuses and certainly cannot foil the attempts of terrorists intent upon compromising the health of our animals.”
Honorable Paul Cooley spearheaded the effort to have the resolution signed
by Blanco County. He feels that many animal owners, cattle owners in particular,
have not studied the program enough to realize just how detrimental and costly
it will be to their operations. He is adamant that we must all do what we can
to stop this system before it starts. The other Blanco Commissioners showed
their support by signing the resolution in today’s meeting.