Animal Disease Control Station

in the USSR, an institution in the state veterinary network that is involved with the organization and implementation of preventive, therapeutic, and sanitary measures in animal breeding within a raion, oblast, krai, or autonomous republic.

Raion veterinary stations exist in every rural region; since 1963 veterinary districts, veterinary stations, and district veterinary hospitals have been under their jurisdiction. An animal disease control station has antiepizootic and disinfecting teams, as well as a hospital with a pharmacy. It is the leading veterinary institution in a raion, financing all other veterinary institutions and furnishing them with a material and technical base. The staff includes a supervisor, a chief veterinarian, veterinarians (an epizootiologist, a therapist, and a gynecologist), a head pharmacist, a record keeper, animal keepers, and other service personnel.

The supervisor of the station—the state veterinary inspector of the raion—has jurisdiction over kolkhozes, sovkhozes, and other enterprises in the raion that are engaged in the breeding, raising, and industrial use of animals, as well as in the production, processing, and storage of products of animal origin. The Veterinary Code of the USSR authorizes the supervisor and his inspectors to order that certain measures be implemented to prevent animal diseases, that veterinary-sanitary regulations are observed, and that violations in the maintenance of livestock and poultry be corrected.

Veterinary workers receive training at animal disease control stations. Since 1973 oblast and krai stations have been in operation; in contrast with raion veterinary stations, they provide predominantly methodological assistance to local veterinary institutions. They give advice concerning the treatment of sick animals, the inspection of herd reproduction, and the organization of sanitary measures.