Reply to "Hoppin Mad"

I know how frustrated you are Carmen. The DPI put out the information but then contradict it themselves. I too have a horse stuck in the "purple zone" that has had EI and will nearly be out of the 50 days, well he would have been had the zone he was in stayed Red. Going on the DPI's info i.e., that after 30 days the horses would not pose a risk to other horses, then one would assume that it would be safe to move that animal to another zone. But no, for some reason.....best known to themselves, this is not the case. If washing our car, float, ourselves, clothes etc is enough to de-contaminate, they why cant we wash the horse ??

They are looking to change my area where I live from Amber to Green, possibly by December even though we are surrounded by EI North (50kms away) & West (70kms) of us. All it would take is one person to not wash their car or boots properly and whamoo, EI hits. Who's going to want to risk moving a horse anywhere and getting stuck in a "lockdown" situation again away from home ?? I certainly wouldn't especially as I'm already paying agistment for my horse in the purple zone, which to all intents & purposes could really be allowed to come home and eat grass here for free. They are currently testing pockets of horses close to the major town, then they are apparently testing horses further out and if all clear then we get to go green....big whoopee. Taking bets as to how long we stay green, Temora wasn't green for very long........

They (the DPI) are looking to have just green and purple zones, early next year - yay, & if your horse has been vaccinated or immune after having EI, you will be allowed to cross the borders and go to comps in either zone. Um......immune horses I can understand, but aren't they telling us that vaccinated horses aren't immune and can still carry the virus ?? They say that vaccinated horses still get sick...just not as bad as unvaccinated horses and that the vaccine can mask symptoms . So we get a vaccinated horse that comes out of the "hot spot" purple zone, and potentially can infect the majority of horses that are currently unvaccinated in the green zones.....that's clever. I know that they are trying to get us going as "quick as possible" but there are a lot of us out here that won't be vaccinated so how do we protect ourselves ?

I am getting seriously depressed at this situation. When I last conversed with the DPI I was told that they were looking at implementing a program which would allow horses currently stuck in the purple zones that were immune, to be tested and if proven clear etc, they would be allowed home - on a case by case basis. They told me that it should be within the "next 2 weeks" so that makes it now. Still haven't heard anything back to say its been implemented. So that was probably a stalling tactic too.

Whilst everyone is busy changing zones etc and hopefully by next June the borders will be lifted and we'll be EI free, what steps/measures has our wonderful government put in place to prevent this from happening again. Will shuttle stallions be made to do the same amount of time in quarantine as other equines ?? Will all horses coming into Australia be made to be vaccinated with the Canary Pox vaccine as it's supposedly the best ?? Will they not allow horses to enter they country if they are coming from a country that currently has an outbreak of EI ? Will ALL horses, donkey, mules etc, coming to Australia, be tested prior to leaving their country for EI ??? These are questions I'd like answered NOW, because if they aren't looking towards the future right now, we could all be doing this again next year....... wouldn't that be fun, NOT.

So your not alone Carmen

Sue

" I can only please one person at a time, & today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking promising either."