DEAR DIARY

Just a quick note to remind myself, and others, how we should say THANKS to the wonderful job the Federal Government  and DPI is doing to protect this LUCKY COUNTRY from the spread of EI.

My husband and I drove our gooseneck horse truck from Melbourne to Townsville 5 days ago, through all the zones put in place to restrict movement of horses, and was not stopped once in the 2,700kl journey by either a stock inspector, a DPI officer, or a policeman.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Reassuring for us nobody horse people that they are there to protect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SARAH ALLEN  VICTORIA

EI Inquiry: Matrix of confusion

SYDNEY – Bureaucratic language used by Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service management obscured rather than advanced the basic day-to-day jobs of staff, Commissioner Ian Callinan said yesterday.

The inquiry has heard of a “matrix style of management” with layers of hierarchy and that the managers would not necessarily have any practical knowledge or experience of quarantine protocols in live animal imports.

Callinan interrupted testimony by Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) national program manager David Ironside saying the language used masked the issues.

"I have the impression that there is a whole lot of language that's used that tends to mask or to diminish the understanding or the thrust of these things.

A lot of business-type, corporate-type language which doesn't seem to have any particular role to play in public administration," Commissioner Callinan said.

Ironside had given evidence that the station manager at Sydney's Eastern Creek quarantine centre, Greg Hankins, expressed concerns at the lack of hard copies of work instructions when he took up the appointment earlier this year.

Ironside said there was information available on the department’s intranet but there was not a central point to access relevant information

"The strategy is about trying to take those operations manuals and finalise them and have them located with the other finalised work instructions on the relevant part of the intranet," Ironside said.

Commissioner Callinan asked why there was not a simpler method of obtaining the information.

"Why don't you just have a set of duty sheets?" he said.

"...perhaps if there were more focus on the jobs that people had to do on a day-to-day basis, there might have been more efficiency and we may not have had the problem that occurred.

"See, I have to say to you that I have a tentative impression that a lot of this obscures what you should be doing rather than advances it and that the language itself may be one of the problems."

Racing Victoria in response to their free ticket offer

To Horse Deals,
Attatched is a email I sent to Racing Victoria in response to their free ticket offer:

To: information@racingvictoria.net.au
Subject: Thankyou
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:21:02 +1030

I would like to thank you, and all of racing Victoria for the very nice invitation to attend a free racing day.
Where will it be held, or is it to attend any meet?

While on the subject of thank you's, I would like to thank you again for the continued spread of equine influenza.
You guys are doing such a good job of keeping it going, what with all these races going on, and only race horses getting help.
Us "nobodies" not involved in the racing industry like Heath Ryan and Shane Rose are really happy to put aside everything therve been working for just so racing can go ahead. Unfortunetly for Heath Ryan and Shane Rose, they wont be continuing the success of the Australian Olympic eventing team at Bejing in 2008- but I am sure they are very very happy to put aside their dreams of gold, not mentioning the hard work therve done in the past four years to keep them as one of the top eventing teams in the world just so that extremely important races like the Eclipse Stakes can go ahead. And anyway, their horses are still recovering from the illness that was brought into the country by racehorses, was transported by racehorses and is likely to scar their fitness abilities for life.

I am assuming that because you are offering free racing days, you are offering to pay our vet bills when Victoria gets E.I?
I am assuming you are offering to pay compensation for the money lost because people just cant get the work they relied on?
I am assuming that you will help pay for the feed bills and agistment of the two horses we have sold, but are unable to be transported because they are not racehorses?
I am assuming that you are willing to provide counselling for all the stress, depression and anxiety this has caused not only my family and my immediate friends, but all of Australias non-racing horse industry?
That is extremely generous of you, thank you.

Once again,
Thankyou for your generosity and I look forward to receiving our compensation, agistment payments and vet bill payments.
Of course racing must go ahead, after all, it is racing.
Of course it is far more important that racing goes ahead, than our gold winning olympic team competes, after all, the olympic contenders are just nobodies arent they?
I mean, who's ever heard of Andrew Hoy, Heath Ryan and Megan Jones? Their nobodies.

I guess thats like saying Phar Lap and Makybe Diva are nobodies.

Thank you again.

PL

***If you would like to see the original Letter from Victorian Racing see Wednesday the 14th November on this blog or see the " A free weekend of Thoroughbred race meetings " on the Horse Deals Home Page.***

Between a rock and a hard place.

Ever since the outbreak of Equine Influenza in New South Wales and Queensland, the Victoria Equestrian Federation has been in a no win situation. The EFA and Werribee Park are both businesses, and like so many other small businesses they have been greatly affected by EI, even though the virus has not reached Victoria. While doing their utmost to prevent an outbreak of EI, the EFA and WPNEC must do everything they can to try and help their businesses survive this crisis.

Since the announcement that Werribee Park would become a quarantine station there has erupted in some members of the equestrian community, a feeling of paranoia that diseased horses would be brought into Victoria and that the WPNEC had done a sordid deal with the Victorian Government. However, as EFA Victoria CEO, Jackie Woodhead explained, “taking a booking from the Victorian Government was just a business decision and a matter of survival. Since the outbreak of EI the Werribee Park Board of Management have reduced the staff to a skeleton crew, which unfortunately meant the retrenchment of Park Manager, Graham Barker, and the EFA have taken over the management duties for the next 12 months.”

“The horses to be brought into the quarantine station at Werribee Park are Victorian horses that have been stranded in NSW and Qld in green zones. Before they arrive at Werribee they must spend at least six weeks in a green zone, then two weeks in a NSW quarantine station and then two weeks here. The likelihood of these horses carrying the virus is extremely low and these horses must come home at some stage. Due to Werribee Park virtually having no income for two and a half months, they received a booking from the Victorian Government for the facility from the 1st of November until the 31st of December. “

We asked Jackie what was the likelihood of Werribee still being a quarantine station in January and February. Jackie stated, “we are 99.9% sure everything will be back to normal in January, we have a dressage day booked here for the 12th of January and Barastoc in February and we will do everything in our power to conduct these events. People need to be positive. Ever since the outbreak of EI, Victoria has been in a self-imposed lockdown. From the 1st October, the EFAV has encouraged competition with all the bio-security measures in place and there is still no reason why competitions cannot go ahead, just not at Werribee, as the facility is fully booked.”

Jackie commented; “My thoughts are that this crisis is going to affect’s the equestrian industry for possibly the next twelve months. EI has taught us all a valuable lesson, and we need to work together and aim for better communication between all the equestrian groups.”

Quarantine staff unaware of rules, flu inquiry told

SYDNEY'S Eastern Creek Quarantine Station was understaffed and running at 150 per cent capacity when the equine flu broke out, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service staff attended to only dogs, cats and bees while private grooms living there tended to horses, the Callinan Commission of Inquiry was told.

The grooms were required to sign a declaration in which they agreed to adhere to quarantine control guidelines such as changing clothes and showering before leaving. But quarantine and inspection service staff were not required to enforce the rules on the grooms.

The hearing was told that before the outbreak, 22 stallions from overseas, worth $220 million, were sent to Eastern Creek on July 7. Between August 3 and August 8 "some 50 odd" worth $560 million were stabled there. The quarantine service charged owners $34 a day per horse. Those with more than 25 horses paid $10 a day for each extra horse.

At Victoria's Sandown racetrack quarantine facility for overseas thoroughbreds, private security guards enforce a rule that anyone who enters must shower and be disinfected before leaving.

Read more.

Inquiry told horse flu warnings ignored

Staff at the Eastern Creek Quarantine Station in western Sydney have admitted they were unaware of the correct procedures to follow when horse flu broke out earlier this year. An inquiry into the spread of the virus has also been told a senior member of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service didn't check to see what procedures his staff were following.

Listen to the report. It is at the bottom of the page.

Equine flu fallout means horses may have to be put down

A West Wyalong horse breeder who is in the amber zone for equine influenza fears she may have to put down some of her animals.
Diane Glennan says she cannot afford to feed the 45 horses and may have to euthanase them because she has been unable to attend horse sales around the country.

Ms Glennan has joined others in the pleasure horse industry who say the government assistance seems to be geared towards the thoroughbred industry.

"Tuesday, I think it was, I spent pretty well all day on the phone to get some sort of assistance through all the agencies that are available, but it doesn't look like that we're going to get anything, they're mainly interested in the race horse side of it," she said.

Brumby removal plan sparks community debate

They've inspired poetry and a film, and on their backs, legends have ridden into the national psyche. The brumbies that have roamed Australia's high country since the 1830s still quicken the heart.

The wild horses also attract visitors, according to Kosciuszko National Park tour guide Kelly Quirke.

"To go out into the national parks and to be able to see a wild horse is a pretty special experience," she said.

But Steve Horsley from the National Parks and Wildlife Service says the brumbies are now leaving their mark in a damaging way as well.
"Horse numbers have increased, there are impacts on water quality in certain catchments in the park and we're certainly seeing a lot more track erosion, and we're concerned about siltation," he said.

The service already has a plan for managing wild horse numbers in the Kosciuszko National Park and some have been trapped and removed in the past.

Read more.

Movement restrictions apply, even after EI jab

NSW Department of Primary Industries is reminding horse owners that they must observe current equine influenza (EI) movement restrictions, even if their horses have been vaccinated for the horse flu virus.

"We have had reports of potentially misleading horse sale advertisements saying ‘vaccinated for EI and ready to move’," NSW Chief Veterinary Officer, Bruce Christie, said.

"Vaccinated horses must meet the movement restriction for the zone they are in and generally can’t be moved just because they have been vaccinated.
"While vaccinations will slow the spread of the disease, owners need to be aware it’s not a silver bullet and is not 100% effective on all horses."

Mr Christie said the horse flu vaccine is an important part of the strategy to contain EI, but should never be seen as a solution to all the problems the disease has created.

"Therefore, we are relying on all horse owners to protect their industry by complying with the relevant movement restrictions," he said.

Mr Christie said horse flu zones were introduced to provide greater flexibility across NSW and, like personal hygiene and biosecurity, are crucial to the success of the campaign.

"Under the EI Protection Plan, movement restrictions vary according to the level of EI infection found in each area," he said.

"Very limited movements are allowed under permit in the Red Zone and a similar situation exists in the Amber Zone where people have to apply for permits from their Rural Lands Protection Board."

Horses can move freely within a Purple Zone but they can not move outside the zone.

Horses vaccinated in buffer zones cannot move until at least seven days after their second vaccination. Horses vaccinated as part of the purple zone vaccination are asked not to move their horse until at least a week after the second vaccination.

Meanwhile, free movement of horses is allowed in the Green Zone, which is disease-free, provided a Travelling Horse Statement is completed and carried at all times.

Police across the State are patrolling the roads and conducting compliance checks on people transporting horses. Harsh penalties apply, with fines of up to $44,000 for anyone found to be breaching the movement restrictions.

Qld DPI - Situation report for Thursday 15th November, 2007

Infected PremisesThere are 2184 Infected Premises (IPs) in Queensland, and 25 new IPs have been registered since yesterday. However there is a continuing reduction in the total IP's registered due to reclassification to the status from IP to Resolved (R). A property's R status means that its horses are no longer shedding the virus.

This is a critical time of the disease emergency and all horse owners and horse health care providers are must maintain decontamination and other biosecurity procedures and remain vigilant to allow the disease to burn itself out.

Reporting sick horsesIt is still a legal requirement to notify the DPI&F on 13 25 23 of any horses that show clinical sign consistent with EI.

See the breakdown of infected premises by shires

Equine Influenza Update from the Qld Chief Veterinary Officer - All horse owners need to protect the Green Zone status

If we are to succeed in eradicating equine influenza (EI) it is critical that the Green Zone remains free of infection.
This is very important in the lead up to Christmas when we may be relaxing some movement restrictions in the Red Zone.

The rate of infection in the Red Zone continues to fall, but we cannot be complacent - all horse owners in ALL parts of Queensland (Green and Red Zones) need to do the right thing now.

DPI&F is urging all horse owners in the Green Zone to register the location of their horses, complete waybills if moving a horse, plan appropriate biosecurity for equestrian events and report any sick horses.

It is important that ALL horse properties in ALL parts of Queensland (GREEN ZONE as well as those in the RED ZONE) must register on the DPI&F website. This is a legal requirement under the Stock Identification Regulation 2005. This information is critical for vaccination planning as well as movement planning as restrictions are relaxed.

Many Queensland horses no longer infectious

Read more.