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Tuesday 16 October 2007

The wider ramifications of GMO vaccination

I am on the outside looking in, but this is what I see:

1 The bureaucracy have/had no idea about the size of the actual horse population and therefore no perception of the size of the problem.

2 The people working in the DPI (as a generalisation) are not stock people and are therefore not able to grasp the most basic precepts in fundamental animal husbandry. (ie necessity for quality food and water)

3 There is no consistent nor sensible interpretation of the regulation because of 2 above.

4 The realities of the vaccination issue (especially the GMO vaccine) are either being glossed over, the information not being fully disseminated OR that horse owners do not actually want to see the pit which is opening up in front of them. My personal jury is still out on this question.....

OK a realistic Case History coming up
Breeder (ponies) now in a buffer zone.
Immediately prior to the lock down had brought all the ponies (many grazed out on other properties) to the home farm prior to relocation to a new property.
New property also in same buffer zone
Now paying rent on one property and mortgage on the other
Cannot use the 'new' property therefore - not permitted to be moved
23 ponies on 42 acres at present.
Drought - no feed - presently hard feeding
They cannot be sent to the doggers to alleviate a potential welfare issue - not permitted to be moved
The person is not a business so gets no $ assistance
DPI want to GMO vaccinate all the ponies as per AUSVETPLAN as in buffer zone. No choice of vaccine given.
IF this vaccination programme goes ahead, in the likelihood that these ponies well end being killed because the owner can no longer afford to feed them, what happens?
$40,000 bill for disposal. Who is going to pay for that?

Whereas if they were allowed to go to the doggers at least it will not cost anything in $ terms.

OR maybe if the DPI GOT REAL and issued a permit to move to the ponies to the new property where there IS feed and water there would be no potential welfare issues arising. How many more of you 'out there' are facing the same issues? Are you getting any help or is your head getting mushed because of hitting the brick wall? Call in the SPCA? What is your solution?

The GMO issue - may not worry you because you 'keep your horses for life and you do not send anything to the doggers'. But you can be dammity sure that along the way some of these discards will end up in the food chain. Paper work gets lost. They may be getting micro chipped, but is any effort been put into thinking about a permanent indication being applied to the hide, to show that they are vaccinated micro chipped horses, as opposed to horses which are micro chipped for other purposes? Nope, seen no mention of that....

Most horse people have dogs - the two seem to go together. This research is to do with Avian influenza but contains the following statement - here is the reference link. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Avian+influenza+(H5N1)+susceptibility+and+receptors+in+dogs-a0167507684H3N8 is the strain presently rife in Oz"Influenza virus infection of dogs was first reported in 2004 (6). Influenza (H3N8) of equine origin caused outbreaks in greyhounds in Florida and has since been found in dogs in >20 US states (7). The course of experimental infection of SPF dogs with subtype H5N 1 resembles that of the experimental infection of dogs with the subtype H3N8 (6): all dogs seroconverted, and some excreted virus without obvious disease. In contrast to the experimental outcomes, natural infections with influenza (H3N8) resulted in serious illness, death, and widespread infection for dogs. This finding warrants special attention to the potential course of avian influenza (H5N 1) infection in dogs. Therefore, dogs' contact with birds and poultry should be avoided in areas with influenza (H5N 1) outbreaks to prevent possible spread of virus and human exposure to influenza (H5N 1) virus that might have been adapted to mammals. "

Transmission of equine influenza virus to dogs.
This site also has a lot more in depth information about equine flu around the world, check it out:http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=103753this website has already had information from it posted to horse deals. read it again :)Point to note - this H5N8 equine - canine transmission was first seen in greyhounds. What are greyhounds routinely fed as matter of choice? Raw Horse Meat. GMO vaccinated horses are not to be allowed to be used for meat - go figure.So what happens when one of the horses slips under the radar - is slaughtered as 'home kill' for an owner's dogs???

People, start asking the HARD questions - and keep asking until you get sensible, consistent, replicable answers.

Think about how you are going to cope when you and your horses are still in lock down 9 months from now and there is NO FEED.

IF you are going to vaccinate then PUSH for the killed VACCINE. If enough people start making enough noise 'something' might happen and common sense will prevail. Don't leave this to 'somebody else' to deal with; do it for yourself.

Celia

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry - anyone know how to NOT lose the formatting?

16 October 2007 at 1:04 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Regarding your case study... if these horses are in NSW then they can choose not to be vaccinated. There is a $500 re-location payment to move them out of the buffer zone. May not help the situation any, but there is an option.

16 October 2007 at 1:46 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

These ponies are not in NSW but QLD and are not eligible for any financial support because they are not registered as a business. But thanks for your input anyway.

16 October 2007 at 2:53 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

40grand for disposal, come on, thats over the top. Why do people have so many horses if they are not willing or able to pay for them when somthing goes wrong.

16 October 2007 at 7:11 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Celia, I do feel for you, however I fail to understand why it would cost $40,000 to dispose of 23 ponies...unless you are factoring their value as well. And as for dogs catching EI, well, despite being an inveterate conspiracy theorist, and my dogs sniffing and eating lots of fresh EI snot ( before I locked them up) - no my three dogs are symptom-free.

16 October 2007 at 8:06 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

you don't 'get it'. These ponies are not on the owner's own property. They will have to be shot, removed and burnt/buried on another site (quoted cost $2K per pony). They cannot be 'dogged' because of the GMO vaccination.
EI came at ALL the recreational horse people out of left field. So your comment is less than helpful, to ALL the other 'little' people who have been and still are trapped in similar situations and may be facing the same decisions.

17 October 2007 at 7:23 am  
Blogger pam said...

Celia I agree with you all the way horeses, dogs and the hardships,it appears to me that some people havent studied the form of the horse flu, or the vaccine,GMO,they apparently believe all they are told from the authorities like one dpi messenger said at a meeting dont kill us we are just the messengers, ha,the $500 subsidy dpi messenger to me, I refuse the vaccination of my stallion the subsidy is to move him to a red zone where he will get flu or to euthanase him rather the word used to me was "kill him", we have no choice, there is a killed vaccine, safe and fully tested,for this strain H3n8(Wisconsin)intervet "Prequenza",hardships try having your breeding and show QH stallion at a vet in sydney flu breaks out, cant get him home, been vaccinated, miss stud season, mares on the place waiting for his return cant go home because they cant be moved off the place, drought, no feed, and the cost of the keep of the horse in sydney $35 per day from aug.24 til 2008 ? try living in vic, to get your horse home across the border from green zone $3000 for vet fees and quarrantine in albury then melbourne (4 weeks). GMO,. people read the bulliten mag dated nov 20 2007 POX RISK FOR THE BIRDS AUSTRALIAS UNIQUE FAUNA COULD FALL FOUL OF THE EI VACCINE. not been tested on our fauna which is unique to other parts of the world ,this vaccine is low on the world market,1% to 5% and not the only one used in sth africa just one of.We have had our freedom of choice taken away from us ,there should now be blanket vaccination not the pockets of unvaccinated horses left by the dpi because they were not thoroughbreds or harness or efa.. now it looks as tho to show or travel our horses they will have to be vaccinated or immunity from the flu on vet checks at the destination of the show, I dont have a problem with this ,the problem I have is not having a choice ,killed vaccine and get on with life,speak up horse lovers,heard today a breeder in Qld is now having probs getting her mares in foal since being vaccinated with the gmo. The flood gates havent opened yet.My horses are not test cases for big dollar corps,the flu did not alight in melbourne,but travelled further to sydney, then stayed dormant over the five day incubation period.Hmm. Speak up and out,like Celia and others we are getting ... we should be told the truth,

4 December 2007 at 10:33 pm  

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