| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| saddlebred |
Posted - 08 Jan 2010 : 10:08:35 PM
I wondered if anyone has seen the governments consultation document for dealing with any future AHS outbreak. The consultation period ends on 11th March 2010. Here is the link to the DEFRA website.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/african-horse-sickness/index.htm
This is scary stuff and makes you realise what the passports and microchips are really for! They are talking of a 20km control zone where all horses will be killed, infected or not. These are pets not farm animals.
Is anyone going to respond to the consultation? It seems that all the breed societies are being consulted.
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| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| CINDERS |
Posted - 12 Jan 2010 : 11:49:40 AM
I am not a scientist so someone cleverer than me should comment but I thought the problem with vaccination is that a small number of animals may then become carriers of the disease and in times of stress shed virus.
Also it means that the UK would lose its clear status.
yvonne |
| Sirius |
Posted - 12 Jan 2010 : 09:44:07 AM
DEFRA leaflets and information on African Horse Sickness:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/africanhorse/index.htm
Trouble is, the EC has many horses bred or bought for food, and the horse racing industry doesn't exactly regard them as pets either. That doesn't change how we feel about our own horses, but it does put the whole thing in a more serious light.
It also suggests to me why there is a reluctance to vaccinate: can a vaccinated horse be shown by blood testing to be different from an infected horse? If not then would other countries ban all imports from the UK, just as has happened in the past with foot and mouth and with BSE and with ...?
In 2001, one of our three pet weed control goats suddenly developed blisters. The nice Spanish vet had to travel through our neighbour's sheep in his white all-over overall in order to inspect them. After a very long telephone conversation with London it was decided that it probably wasn't foot and mouth, and the surrounding farms were not culled. Focuses the mind, and makes you realise the bigger picture.
AHS is at least as likely to spread like wildfire as FMD if it does arrive in the UK. The snuffing out of the 2007 FMD outbreak showed the reason for planning.
Dom |
| Callisto |
Posted - 10 Jan 2010 : 11:29:09 AM
I also found this, published in December 09
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horsecare/397/292856.html |
| LseeT |
Posted - 10 Jan 2010 : 11:20:58 AM
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/252433.html
I managed to find this |
| deebee |
Posted - 10 Jan 2010 : 10:28:57 AM
I'm sorry, i don't know all that much about ahs, ironically - because we just vaccinated against it! All I know is what you can find out online, really; that it's hugely infectious, transmitted by midges, and it depends on what type, or level, of disease the horse has got as to what the outcome is likely to be (there are three levels, one fatal with no cure, one possibly fatal, and the third is just quite poorly. The infection is passed much like strangles - so any close contact with a sick horse or its feed, water etc, will mean catching it.
What I read in the draft was definitely not one pound compensation, LseeT, it was the value (probably insured) at the time of death. Possibly the petition worked... |
| LseeT |
Posted - 09 Jan 2010 : 10:29:35 PM
I seem to remember signing a petition on horse and hound because the compensation had been set at one pound per horse! |
| geegee |
Posted - 09 Jan 2010 : 8:11:45 PM
It would be interesting to know what feedback the Arab Horse Society will be giving.....will it be published? Is anyone in the know?
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| Quarabian |
Posted - 09 Jan 2010 : 7:28:24 PM
We recently had to vaccinate all the sheep and cattle for bluetongue so I can't see what the food chain has to do with it. Trouble is DEFRA are possibly trying to treat horses like farm animals. Surely it is much easier to quarantine horses so the culling should not be necessary.
deebee can I ask you to tell us what you know about this disease. How is it transmitted and is it always fatal? I say yes to vaccination if it worked in other countries. Also imports must be carefully monitored or banned for a while if necessary. I believe there have been cases in Ireland.
I think there are all sorts of implications if 'they' try to slaughter much loved members of the family. I can see problems with people ttrying to move their horses out of the cull zone causing more potential spread of disease. |
| saddlebred |
Posted - 09 Jan 2010 : 6:45:43 PM
Unfortunately I dont think it is just infected horses because it talks about compensation for horses that are tested after culling and proven negative. There is no compensation if an infected horse is killed.
As if any amount of money would ever compensate for the loss of a horse. I cant imagine any horse owner willingly handing a lifetime friend over to be culled to stop a disease that can be vaccinated against.
I need to read into this more but I think we should be pushing for vaccination. As horses are generally not in the food chain in the UK I cant see why this would not be first line of defence.
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| deebee |
Posted - 09 Jan 2010 : 3:37:01 PM
In South Africa we routinely vaccinated against this; I can't understand why vaccination is not allowed in the first instance?
Saddlebred the way I read it, though, was that only infected horses would be culled - maybe I missed what you saw?
ahs is an awful disease though, and we would have to really clamp down on it if it came here, which it probably will, one day! but I agree we need to watch 'them', and try and have our say.
Africa also vaccinates against rabies; I'm against over vaccinating, but I think it'll probably be the only answer, eventually! (what with the free market, and everything!) |
| Quarabian |
Posted - 09 Jan 2010 : 3:36:36 PM
Too scary. I don't like this at all. I must find out more as soon as I've been round the horses again. |
| vjc |
Posted - 09 Jan 2010 : 2:01:11 PM
I have always said that horse passports where done for a REASON!!!! and thats not travel!!! i have read that dossier before and quite frankley was very disturbed by it!!!! Just begs one thought!!! if this swine flu pandemic was in any other living creature other than humans they would have been culled!!!! |
| mogwai |
Posted - 09 Jan 2010 : 11:39:18 AM
OMG! That IS scary! |
