During a busy year for field veterinarian Dr. Robert Erickson fighting bird flu outbreaks, Governor Spencer Cox recognized him with an award for outstanding public service earlier this month.
His office praised Erickson, a field veterinarian for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, for persistent hard work in his 29th year in the role.
A field veterinarian is an animal authority who checks animals in slaughterhouses and other meat processors for diseases.
Erickson said bird flu at turkey factories has dominated his responsibilities this year. That has involved checking for sick animals, then at times quarantining or slaughtering them and disposing quickly of carcasses to avoid sending out contaminated meat.
“We've been inundated with avian influenza,” Erickson said. “We've had it hit commercial farms and large laying operations in northern Utah and currently have numerous turkey facilities in Sanpete County. The depopulations and then the biosecurity audits and the environmental sampling that has to be done for farms to be able to restock — it’s just kept us running like crazy.”
Bird flu is threatening meat factories around the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was first detected in the late 1990s in waterfowl in southern China. It has since infected nearly 900 humans worldwide with a greater than 50% death rate.
Erickson handles cases at the state level. If enough cases continue to pop up around the country, he said a next step could be to develop a vaccine to treat infections, rather than just using quarantines and slaughters to eradicate isolated outbreaks.
So far, he said the powers that be have resisted that option because it would harm international trade operations.
He said bird flu first spread in Utah when migrating waterfowl transmitted the Euro-Asian strain to local birds. Now, it may be too late to eradicate it completely.
“That's our goal, to try to contain and manage,” he said. “As of right now, it seems like whatever we do, we're having a heck of a time. It seems like we just keep having new farms infected all the time.”
He said his award came as a surprise but must have been a recognition for working overtime and recruiting federal government employees to help canvas Utah facilities.
He also finds time for local work on the side. That includes a private veterinary practice and helping at Paws for Life, the local animal shelter and other charities.
“I love living in Heber City,” he said. “We moved there in 1960. I was 6 years old. So, I love it. It's nice to live in Heber, and then I can head north up Weber Canyon or south down Provo Canyon or to the west down Parleys Canyon. [It’s] kind of a nice little hub, kind of a nice spot to be stationed out of.”
Full descriptions of this year’s awards for public service are available at this link.
