ST. PAUL, Minn. – There’s a new face joining South Dakota’s ag and animal health community.
Dr. Beth Thompson who is currently the executive director of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health in St. Paul will be heading to Pierre, SD to assume duties as the State Veterinarian.
Thompson says she made the move to be closer to family and friends.
Thompson is departing as Minnesota and other state including South Dakota, are battling an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in commercial poultry flocks. In Minnesota, nearly 1.4 million birds in 28 flocks have been infected.
South Dakota’s avian flu outbreak is more than triple the size of a similar outbreak in 2015, and through the first week of April more than 1.25 million birds have been destroyed after outbreaks were detected among state poultry producers.
So far, the virus has been detected at 32 premises, more than triple the number in 2015, said Dr. Mendel Miller, an assistant state veterinarian with the South Dakota Animal Industry Board. This year’s outbreak has infected flocks in 14 East River counties that stretch from south to north.
Thompson says that even though she is departing amid an avian flu outbreak, the Board of Animal Health’s “response is strong, and I leave this agency in very capable hands.”
The State Veterinarian position in South Dakota has been vacant since January, when Dr. Dustin Oedekoven announced he was leaving the position to accept a job with the National Pork Board.
Dr. Thompson earned her DVM and swine medicine certification from the University of Minnesota Veterinary School in 2007. After graduation, she spent over a year as a swine production system veterinarian for a Minnesota based company. She joined the Board as a senior veterinarian in July 2008 and is currently the state veterinarian and executive director. Dr. Thompson’s list of program responsibilities includes traceability, swine, carcass disposal, markets and exhibitions, and data requests. She also has a JD from the William Mitchell College of Law.
