Email from Richard Auwerda, NADC Animal Caretaker Supervisor to USDA Inspector General - May 9, 2006
From: "Richard Auwerda" <rauwerda@nadc.ars.usda.gov>
To: <usda_hotline@oig.usda.gov>
Cc: <JDunn@city.ames.ia.us>
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 10:27 AM
Subject: RE Prion biocontainment breech NADC, Ames, Iowa (Fwd: I gotyour
note._
USDA Inspector General - This email was sent to acting Director Dr Ron Horst on 3/1/06. It will give you an idea of the events leading up to the first of several meetings(at the time I had no idea what a can of worms I'd walked into). I will forward you my emails, however to get the additional information, to fill in the gaps, you should probably Please contact John R. Dunn, Assitatnt Diector, Ames Water Pollution Control Dept., 300 E. 5th Street, Ames IA 50010, PH 515-239-5150, email: jdunn@city.ames.ia.us. Thank you all for your time and atention to this matter. Respectfully,
Rich
RICHARD AUWERDA
ANIMAL CARETAKER SUPERVISOR
NATIONAL ANIMAL DISEASE CENTER
2300 DAYTON AVENUE; PO BOX 70
AMES, IA. 50010
(515) 663-7429 (OFFICE)
(515) 663-7458 (FAX)
E-MAIL: rauwerda@nadc.ars.usda.gov
>>>> Richard Auwerda 3/1/2006 10:04 AM >>>
> Ron - this is just so you are aware of everything that was going on
> with the elk at NVSL, if you are going to be at the meeting today I
> felt it would save time and explanations. Thanks Rich I also forward
> you Dr Morgan's email, whom I had NOT contacted.
>
>>>> Richard Auwerda 3/1/2006 8:08 AM >>>
> I assume your note was in conjunction with the meeting today at 1:30
> in 101.
>
> I'm still lost as to why this has become major issue? My team is
> scheduled to start doing the elk in B2 at NVSL today. As of yesterday
> (and still today), I have had no idea on the protocol or SOP's for
> these elk. Michelle Crochek was my contact person. Last week she
> emailed me that I would be recieving the SOP. As of today, the only
> item I had recieved was the ACUC adendum to a NADC protocol, signed by
> Marcus, that give me the NADC protocol number and the modification
> that Justin and Hamir are CO-PI's. Okay...
>
> When Michelle had emailed me last week she mentioned the Elk were on
> bedding, since we have never kept elk in bio-containment on bedding,
> and it is very time consuming to do so I wanted to know why they were
> on bedding (injury was what I thought), how much time this added to
> thier care as that would determine if I needed to readjust caretaker's
> barns again, and if we could, at some point take the bedding out.
> Throughout all of this I and Michelle are making sure that Terry and
> Ron Morgan are included in the emails, to assure everything is being done
correctly.
>
> Michelle called me yesterday morning, prior to sending me the email.
> She said I needed to check with the PI and our ACUC committee about
> the bedding issue as NADC and NVSL have contridictory views on CWD
> protocols. She also said she'd try to find out what happened to the
> SOP's and that I needed to contact Brad (who I've called, left
> messages for, but still have heard nothing from) to coordinate thier
> and our animal caretaker switch.
>
> Well that helped answer nothing. Since I was already in the midst of
> coordinating a necropsy of a sheep and deer with Dr Hamir; and since
> SOP per Marcus Kerhli, after the "Student caretaker issue in B136" two
> years ago, is to have ALL new staff meet wth Dr Hamir and utilize him
> to explain all TSE questions, I emailed him, Lawayne and David Alt
> about the protocol for the barn (entry/exit, animal care). All I
> wanted to know was if we needed bedding in there.
>
> Dr Hamir replied that he'd let Justin answer the question. Then I get
> this email from Dr Morgan, whom I had never contacted. The email does
> a real good job of saying that no CWD or prion waste can be released
> into the environment, period. His explanation points are CSU research
> & State Law. Of course that is going to raise "red flags" with anyone
> who has not been following that SOP, just as seeing Bruce Johnson in
> B174 not following SOP's raised concerns with a caretaker yesterday.
> It is supposed to.
>
> Now, I know NVSL and NADC do things differently - but to my knowledge
> no caretakers from NADC have ever had an NVSL barn as one of thier
> primary barns, under an NADC protocol. I was sent into uncharted
> waters, without a compass.
>
> So I went to Bld. 1, a little after recieving Dr Morgan's email to ask
> Dr Kerhli about it. He was not there, so I went to find Justin.
> Instead I found Bob Kunkle & Dr Richt, who I posed the asked about the
> difference. No big deal. I also followed Dr Morgan's advice and asked
> my ACUC representitive, Nate Horman, to ask AT THURSDAYS MEETING, if
> it was possible to change the bedding thing. Every step of the way,
> Terry was included in my emails. He was reading them, but never
> indicated anything wrong with my question.
>
> When I left yesterday I was expecting to get the answer from Justin or
> Dr Hamir this morning. No big deal. Boy was I wrong. First I get an
> email from David Alt, saying he'd been looking into it all day; the
> next one is from you and the final one is from Marcus Kerhli.
>
> I'm having feel like I'm back in my 8th grade science class. I went to
> a private Christian school from K thru 8th grade. Of course, only
> Creationism was taught. However, I liked to read and was facinated by
> nature. In 8th grade I read "The Voyage of The Beagle" by Charles Dawin.
> It peaked my curiosity and in science class one day I asked about
> Darwin. My response was to immediately be sent to the principal's
> office, where I repeated my question. I recieved five swats accross
> the hand with a ruler, and was told I needed to spend the next three
> days of science class in the principlal's office reading Genisis
> Chapter 1. I did not understand why, as an 8th grader, my question was so
terrible.
> This is almost deja vu.
>
> Never meant for it to be such a big deal, just asking a question.
> Rich