BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Kern County Fair Board voted Monday to keep its current livestock catalog in place for the year, while committing to future changes after community members raised concerns that the catalog could lead to mistakes in drug testing livestock at shows.
Multiple speakers urged the board to update the catalog, calling for clearer and stronger drug testing procedures.
"I don't see any changes in protocol, I don't see any changes in polices and procedures on how to deal with the problems we have," one public speaker said.
"We are demanding specific and immediate action, professionalism in livestock oversight. We need local leaders to return to the livestock department," another speaker said.
The vote follows a public outcry in late January, after five of eight grand and reserve grand champion livestock winners at the Kern County Fair were disqualified over failed drug tests. Exhibitors claimed the results were flawed and may have been false. At that same meeting, the fair board reversed the disqualifications, reinstating both the titles and prize money.
Chelsey Roberts with the Kern County Fair said the decision to reinstate winners came after the board learned more about how the tests were conducted and the potential issues with their accuracy.
"They're working on different meetings with veterinarians right now to find out what the best option is going to be moving forward to make sure we get the most accurate results," Roberts said.
The board is now looking ahead and considering new safeguards, including hiring an independent company to handle testing, limiting who is present during the process, and adding cameras to record all tests.
"Moving forward, our board is really committed to setting all kinds of new procedures to make sure that these new testing, whether it's drug testing with urine, blood, eye balls, all of it, they're just making sure that it's going to be as clean cut and accurate as possible," Roberts said.
The board expects to finalize any changes with an addendum at its next meeting in April.
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