My husband and I are small alpaca breeders, who have been in the business for almost twenty years.  I've had extensive experience transporting and showing alpacas around the country, and am knowledagble of most state's health inspection requirements.  We support the portion of this amendment that would change the inspection requirements for bringing camelids into the State of Virginia.  As proposed, the amendment strikes the proper balance between protecting our state's livestock from the risk of disease where there is a reasonable likelihood of such risk, while reducing the current unnecessary and expensive inspections requirements where such disease risks are more remote.  This amendment is a substantial improvement over the current law, brings Virginia's requirements more into line with those of other states, and should be passed.

Thank you.

Teri Phipps, Fireweed Farm Alpacas