EI

By allowing the purple area to move around and go back to work, the government is saving themselves heaps of money - no more benefit payments need to be made!

I sent an email after reading these following statements:

No mass vaccination of horses is planned at this stage. The EI Control and Eradication response involved a targeted approach to vaccination in locations critical to containment of EI spread, allowing the disease to ‘burn itself out’.

Then why are the race horses at Taree being vaccinaated in secrecy?
The buffer zones and the RAs are predominantly populated by horses in the ‘recreational’ or ‘pleasure’ category, not racing Thoroughbreds. Horses located in these areas are a critical element of the EI Control and Eradication strategy and owners are urged to register the location of their horses through the DPI website to expedite vaccination. Registration may be done on-line via the NSW DPI website or completing a registration form available from NSW DPI.

Taree is in a buffer zone and no recreational horses have been offered vaccination. In fact, vets in the area had no idea that the racehorsese were being vaccinated until a local racehorse stud rang up and asked if they had got his vaccines!

Why are racehorses allowed to travel within our zone to attend races, but i can't take my daughter 8kms to her riding instructor for a lesson? There appears to be two rules operating here.

I am not against the stand still. I do not want any of my horses to catch the virus. there is an inequality going on here. Pleasure horses may not rake in money for the government but we fill a social role with pony club, RDA and supporting country showgrounds.

Everyone deserves a fair go, not just the most powerful voices in our society.

My Reply:

Thank you for your comments. We appreciate that you have taken the time to contact us. Special provision has been made for the Racing industry, due to the high economic value of the racing industry to NSW. I'm sorry that I could not have been more helpful, but again thank you for contacting us. Edwena Mitchell for Rod HoareIndustry LiaisonSDCHQ Orange63913743
There we have it in a nutshell - we are way down the list.

Then there was this statement which really got me going.

Vaccinations
Due to the limited supplies of vaccine, NSW priorities have been set for which horses should be vaccinated. The priority group for vaccination are the horses in Buffer Zones and adjacent higher risk areas. This vaccination is well underway.

The next group under consideration for vaccination are some of the uninfected horses in the Purple Zone. A survey has been developed by the Australian Horse Industry Council to allow people to identify uninfected horses located in the Purple Zone. See:

http://www.surveymaster.com/AHIC/Q1.asp

The next priority, if vaccine numbers allow, would be the high performance horses and special categories such as Olympic horses, Riding for the Disabled, race horses and breeding stallions in the Green, Amber and Red Zones.

Then, again if vaccine numbers allow, other horses in the Green, Amber and Red Zones that will need to enter the purple zone for thoroughbred or harness racing may be offered vaccination. For more information on vaccinations see: http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/horse/influenza/guidelines/vaccination
so basically, those of us that have pleaseure/performance horses have no hope

valerie