TORONTO, (Feb. 21, 2005) — Ontario livestock haulers should consider raising their rates and start applying special surcharges for some live animal shipments, advises the Ontario Trucking Association’s Livestock Transporters’ Division.

The OTA and the Ontario Livestock Carriers’ Coalition (OLCC) are urging livestock carriers to charge an additional fee to move animals that are considered to be “at risk for transport.”

The call is in response to an amendment to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s Health of Animals Regulations, which as of Feb. 1 prohibits certain injured animals from being unloaded. Such a provision places additional burdens on the carrier and driver, who now face the possibility of equipment and driver delays as well as other challenges at the final destination, the OTA says.

Violations under the Health of Animals Act or its Regulations can result in fines of up to $50,000 for each involved party per incident.

“Since an at-risk animal must be transported with special provisions, livestock carriers would prefer not to move them at all,” says Betsy Sharples, Executive Director of the OTA Livestock Transporters’ Division. “An at-risk animal has a greater likelihood of becoming injured while in-transit, which presents a myriad of legal and welfare challenges”.

Sharples says it’s only fair these additional costs along to the shipper, similar to how specialized costs are passed along in the general freight sector.