The Honorable H. Q. Sibley 

Executive Director 

Opinion No. H-867 

Texas Animal Health Commission He: Texas Animal Health 

1020 Sam Houston State Office Commission authority in 

Building tick eradication "free 

Austin, Texas 78701 area" and related questions. 

Dear Doctor Sibley: 

you ask whether the Texas Animal Health Commission 

inspectors have authority to conduct fever tick inspections 

of cattle located in a "Free Area" of the state. The question 

is raised in the context of two particular situations: 

1. Where a fever tick has been discovered 

on an animal in transit and the infected 

animal is traced to a herd formerly located 

on particular premises in the free area: and 

2. where premises located in a free area 

are suspected of fever tick infestation 

because the premises are adjacent to an area 

designated a "tick eradication area" but 

where the Commission has no direct evidence 

that the premises are tick infested. 

The Texas Constitution makes special provision for the 

regulation of livestock and the protection of stock raisers. 

See Tex. Const. art. 16, 5 23. Pursuant to that authority, 

s Texas Legislature has passed various laws, including 

article 7014g-1, V,T.C.S., to guard against and arrest the 

spread of animal diseases. Pertinent sections of that article, 

the Tick Eradication Law, provide: 

p" 3653 
The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 2 (H-867) 

Sec. 1. It shall be the duty of the 

[Animal Health Commission] . . . to 

eradicate the fever-carrying tick 1 . . 

in the State of Texas . " . . 

Sec. 2. . . . The 'Free Area' is . . . 

composed of those counties and parts of 

counties in Texas which the [Animal Health 

Commission] may designate as the Free Area 

. . . the 'Tick Eradication Area' is 

composed of those counties and parts of 

counties designated for tick eradication by 

the [Animal Health Commission] . . . . 

Whenever a tick is found upon any cattle, horses, 

mules, jacks, and jennets, every head of such 

live stock in said herd or which are located 

in the same pasture, pen, lot or in the 

same enclosure or upon the same range or that -- 

shall thereafter be located therein or thereupon, shall be classed as tick infes=d and 

said pasture, pen, lot, enclosure or open 

range in which and upon which they were 

located shall be classed as tick infested. . . . 

. . * * 

Sec. 20. Owners . . e caretakers . . . 

and persons accompanying and connected with 

. . * the movement of any cattle, horses, mules, 

jacks or jennets . . moved, in any part of 

the State of Texas, at any time during the 

preceding sixty days, shall be required, when 

requested by an inspector of the [Animal 

Health Commission1 to make a written statement of the county and name of the owner or 

Tnxntrol ofthexdwh= said movemwoxginated 

--- -- 

. . . . 

. . ? L 

Sec. 24, All inspectors appointed by the 

[Animal Health Commission] , . . are hereby 

authorized to enter upon any private or public 

property fortheperformance of any dxy-or -- 

exercise of anx authority providedisis -- 

Act . = . . 

p. 3654 
. . 

The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 3 (H-867) 

Sec. 25. The (Animal Health Commission] 

is authorized and directed to establish 

quarantines in the Free Area on account of 

tick infestation or exposure therein whenever 

it becomes necessary . . . . Tick eradication 

shall be conducted in said Free Area under the 

same provisions and penalties as provided in 

this Act for conducting the same in the Tick 

Eradication Area, and & shall be the futy of 

caretakers of cattle,rses, mu es, 

ja;ki and jennetsTocatedinsaidPree Area to 

cooperate with said Commission tick eradication undzh=ovisions of ZisAct the 

same as relate to the Tick Eradication Area 

whenever tick eradication is required to be 

conducted in the Free Area. . . . (Emphasis 

added). 

We think these provisions of the Tick Eradication Law 

make clear that in the situations you describe, the Animal 

Health Commission has ample authority to require persons 

having control of suspected premises in a free area to allow 

a tick inspection by commission inspectors of the cattle 

located there 

(Tex. Crim. A,p.%?$!%f~C%%d2~: ~~?'ftgg?20 S.W.2d 

112 (Tex. Civ. ADD. -- Sai&tonio 193E writ dism'dl: 

Attorney General-Opinions H-195 (1974),.H-148 (1973); 

You also inquire if the Commission, on a selective 

basis, might require livestock markets that receive cattle 

from high risk areas (premises reasonably believed infected) 

to provide scratching chute facilities at private expense 

for fever tick inspection of the animals by Commission 

inspectors. Scratching chutes are alleyways wide enough for 

animals to file through singly, and are constructed so that 

widely-spaced rails on the sides will allow inspectors to 

reach through and physically examine the animals. 

Section 23 of the Tick Eradication Law deals with the 

maintenance of tick-free stock yards. It specifies: 

p. 3655 
The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 4 (H-867) 

All owners and operators in control of any 

stock yards . . . which . . . are open to 

the public . . . shall maintain clean tick-free 

pens, alleys, chutes and facilities where 

such live stock . . . may be received, 

yarded, weighed and sold . . . without being 

subject to exposure to tick infestation, and 

such live stock shall be afforded all necessary 

facilities for such purposes , , . and the . . . 

Commission is herebv authorized to enforce the 

provisions of this Act . . . designating such 

facilities as may be necessary for the proper -- 

~~n~~~~qs:~c~atd.s'ofk yards of . . . movements 

Any stock yards company, 

owners, operators or persons in char-se of stock 

yards, that fail or refuse to provide and complete 

such facilities as may be directed by said Commission . . . shall be fined . . . . (Emphasis 

added). 

In light of this statute, we believe that the Commission 

may selectively require stock yards to construct scratching 

chute facilities where the facilities are reasonably deemed 

necessary by the Commission to the proper, tick-free handling 

of cattle at the yards. Cf. Johnson v. Texas Animal Health 

Commission, 520 S.W.2d 81mTex. Civ.App; -- Houston= 

Dist.] 1975, no writ). 

Your last question asks if the Commission has the 

statutory authority to promulgate rules allowing animals 

shipped from outside Texas and designated as slaughter 

animals, other than cattle, sheep and hogs, to go to a 

livestock market without a health certificate, 

Article 7014f-1, V.T.C.S., relates to the eradication 

of diseases among livestock and domestic fowls. Section 9 

of that law specifies: 

It shall be unlawful for any person . . . 

to . e * move from any state, territory or 

foreign country into any county in the 

State ot Texas i 0 . any cattle (except 

steers and spayed heifers), horses, mules, 

asses, sheep, goats, hogs, domestic animals 

p. 3656 
. 

The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 5 W-867) 

or domestic fowls, except as hereinafter 

provided, unless the same are accompanied 

by a health certificate issued by a veterinarian authorized by or recognized by the 

Texas Animal Health Commission . . . . 

Cattle and sheep and hogs billed and shipped 

for immxate slaughter purposes shall be 

admitted into the State of Texas withour 

-- certification,treatment, vaccina-n or 

testing. (Emphasis added). 

- 

Except for steers and spayed heifers, "cattle, horses, 

mules, asses, sheep, goats, hogs, domestic animals [and] 

domestic fowls" can legally enter Texas only if they are 

accompanied by the proper health certificate. The only 

deviation permitted concerns cattle, sheep, and hogs (but 

not other animals) billed and shipped for immediate slaughter 

purposes which go directly to slaughtering facilities. 

Consequently, we answer your last question in the negative. 

SUMMARY 

The Animal Health Commission has authority 

to require the inspection for ticks of herds 

located on premises in a "free area" suspected of infestation, and it has authority 

to selectively require stock yards to construct 

scratching chute facilties at private expense 

for the inspection of cattle for ticks. with 

the exception of cattie, sheep, and hogs going 

directly to slaughtering facilities, the 

Commission does not have authority to allow 

animals shipped from outside Texas and designated as slaughter animals to go to a livestock 

market without a health certificate. 

Very truly yours, 

Attorney General of Texas 

p. 3657 
The Honorable H. Q. Sibley - page 6 (H-867) 

DAVID M./RFNDALL, 

Opinion Committee 

jwb 

p. 3658