Shocked and Dismayed

It was with complete shock & dismay when I read yesterday, the WILFUL disregard for the movement of horses. This wasn't a case of a horse moving 10kms down the road to a greener pasture, this was a RACE HORSE connection, moving his horse from Randwick Racecourse - Purple zone, to my area Orange - Amber zone. Maybe I shouldn't be shocked, after all it is a race horse and they basically run to their own rules at everybody elses expense. .

Did this person have these horses screened and given the 100% all clear from the CVO ?? Did they give a rats about the owner of the property & what consequences they would have been in had they not reported this illegal movement ?? Did they take into consideration other horses on that property or any other horses in the vicinity ?? Regardless of whether or not the minister says they pose minimal risk, that risk is one that should never have happened.

Why are the majority of us doing the RIGHT thing when idiots like this jeopardise it for the rest of us. Our zone was being looked at to go Green zone in December, will this now be postponed ??

The BIG question is though, HOW did they get from Randwick to Orange & then back to Bathurst before they were stopped ??. They had to drive past an RTA weigh/checking station, numerous Police stations plus patrol cars and yet no one gave him a sideways glance. Unless the government departments that have the power to enforce the standstill of movement, start to take this issue seriously, then these types of people will continue to treat all of us as a huge joke.

I truly hope, along with every other horse owner I've spoken to today, that they slap the $44,000 fine that they keep threatening us with, on this fool. Until the government start making good these threats, there will be people moving horses illegally.

Unless people stop being so selfish and start to take this eradication project seriously, then I doubt we'll ever win the fight to be EI free. Start thinking about those of us who are really hurting the most, those of us that can't get government handouts & vaccinations etc. We still have to care for our horses just the same as you do, without help from the government & we don't need jerks like this risking the well being of our animals. I'm as eager as anyone to get a horse out of the purple zone, but I haven't even gone to see him as I didn't want to risk the virus hitching a ride back here & will only go to bring him home when I get the all clear.......I just can't believe someone would be this stupid.

Sue