Horse transporter says EI lockdown has cost him big

There's more criticism of how the State Government is handling Tasmania's equine influenza scare.

A horse transport operator, Vern Poke, says the two month lockdown has cost him and many horse owners thousands of dollars.


A ban on horse imports is to be partially lifted from Wednesday, but Mr Poke says the Department of Primary Industries doesn't understand the flu threat, or the industry.


"EI broke out in Sydney, look how far we are from Sydney and what happened at Smithton here a fortnight ago, that was just absolute ludicrous," said Mr Poke.


"Why would you close Tasmania down for a horse with a common cold?


"Now you're going to find people in Tasmania are not going to report horses with common colds for fear of being closed down again."