In support of Christmas celebrations around the world, Alaska State Veterinarian Dr. Robert Gerlach recently issued a series of health certificates allowing Santa’s reindeer to travel from Alaska across state lines for toy delivery. While this annual effort attracts attention, it seems to be just another day at the office for the Alaska State Veterinarian.
Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Jason Brune:
“Dr. Gerlach and Dr. Sarah Coburn work every day to help protect Alaskans by ensuring our pets and livestock are also healthy. Only allowing healthy animals to enter or leave our state is one of the things DEC does to help prevent the spread of diseases among animals or between animals and people.”
Office of the State Veterinarian is part of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Environmental Health. Dr. Gerlach and Dr. Coburn, with the support of their team, are responsible for carrying out a wide variety of programs protective of both animal and human health, which in turn safeguards the health and food capacity of Alaska’s livestock, reindeer, and poultry, and prevents the transmission of animal disease to humans.
Santa Claus:
“As you can imagine, I regularly work with livestock veterinarians around the world. I can confirm that Dr. Gerlach and Dr. Coburn are top-notch, and are a real gift to Alaskans all year!”
