Vaccine available for SA horses Traveling interstate

PIRSA has today announced that vaccinations have been made available

or horses traveling to attend Sydney Royal Show.

Please contact Andrew Hunt at Morphettville Equine Hospital

on 08 8294 8900 to arrange vaccination.

Farewell Mac Greaves

Anita Smith, Thursday, 24 January 2008

EFA farewells Mac Greaves (aged 77) one of the original EFA committee members, he will be sadly missed after his recent passing.

Mac had contributed enormously to the horse community which includs, EFA State chairman, EFA federal vice chair,ringmaster at the Royal Melbourne Show and contributed to the establishment of the Melbourne Three Day Event.

Tasmanian Biosecurity Guidelines for Horse Events

The following guidelines, while not mandatory, are highly recommended for any non-racing equine event as part of on-going biosecurity within the equine industry. These guidelines take the place of all previous requirements and guidelines including those for large events (10 or more horses), small events (fewer than 10 horses) and pony rides.

• Organisers should be willing, able and have the means to report suspect disease to the Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) Hotline on 1800 675 888 immediately they are aware of it.

• Collection of tracing information on horses: here is a Declaration Form (Tracing Log) with the essential information required.

• As a condition of entry, all gear and vehicles should be clean (with the exception of road dust) and presented for inspection by event officials. Vehicles and gear should be cleaned on return to home before being used again.

• Any horse becoming sick must be immediately reported to stewards or officials. If equine influenza (horse flu) is suspected (fever >38.5°C, nasal discharge, coughing, inappetence, depression), it must be immediately reported to the EAD Hotline on 1800 675 888 - this is everybody’s responsibility.

• For the duration of the event, a vet should be either on site or the event organiser should have the contact details for a vet within easy distance to enable a timely examination of sick horses.

www.dpiw.tas.gov.au

Queensland Map as at 21st January 2008

**Click on map to enlarge

NSW EI campaign gets national stamp of approval

In a major stamp of approval for the Iemma Government’s equine influenza (EI) strategy, all States and Territories of Australia have agreed to recognise the current EI Green Zone in NSW on equal terms with their own disease-free jurisdictions, Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said today.
"This means that 86 per cent of NSW is accepted nationally as disease free and movements across the border from this area of NSW will be eased from Friday 1 February," Mr Macdonald said today.
"This is further significant step towards a return to normal for the States’ horse industries.
"The NSW Government has been successful in getting national agreement to lift the quarantine requirements applying to horses moving out of the State from the NSW EI Green Zone.
"To implement the nationally-accepted status, the current green zone will be reclassified on 1 February as white in the State’s EI Protection Plan," he said.
"This will really benefit horse owners living along the border in southern NSW who have had to contend with stringent border crossing restrictions even though the area has been disease free for some time.
"Until now all horses moving into Victoria from the NSW Green Zone required a permit and had to spend up to two weeks in quarantine in both states.
"Now, all that will be required is a Travelling Horse Statement (THS) in NSW and a permit from the DPI in the destination State."
The THS can be filled out on line and downloaded from the NSW DPI website. This is the same simple document that NSW horse owners need to move horses within the Green Zone.
Requirements for horse movements within the new NSW white zone will be the same as for the current green zone. All other movements between EI zones in NSW remain unchanged.
Details will be available on the NSW DPI website www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/horse/influenza or by calling the Equine Influenza hotline on 1800 675 888.
Mr Macdonald said New South Wales was on track to be free of horse flu by the middle of March. When this happens all that will be required to move a horse in NSW is a Travelling Horse Statement (THS).
"This is good news for our horse industries, but it hinges on not one more case in the coming weeks.
"Good bio-security, reporting of suspect horses and sensible movement of animals is more crucial to the campaign than ever. There is no room for complacency; one undiagnosed sick horse could bring down the house of cards."

Most of NSW clear of horse flu: govt

The majority of NSW has been declared free from equine influenza at a federal level, the state government says.
All Australian states and territories agreed to recognise NSW's equine influenza green zone on equal terms with their own disease-free jurisdictions.
"This means that 86 per cent of NSW is accepted nationally as disease free and movements across the border from this area of NSW will be eased from Friday, February 1," NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said in a statement.
"This is (a) further significant step towards a return to normal for the states' horse industries.
"To implement the nationally-accepted status, the current green zone will be reclassified on February 1 as white in the state's EI Protection Plan," he said.
Until now all horses moving to Victoria from the NSW green zone required a permit and had to spend up to two weeks in quarantine in both states.
"Now, all that will be required is a travelling horse statement in NSW and a permit from the DPI in the destination state," Mr Macdonald said.
The statement can be found at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au.

Some horse flu quarantine restrictions lifted

Horses in southern New South Wales will be allowed into Victoria without going through a quarantine period from the end of the week.
The quarantine has been lifted for horses in areas unaffected by the equine influenza outbreak.
Horse owners must still get permits from both states before travelling with horses.