EIA DEFRA put hold on Exports but not Imports

Cuffey

Cuffey

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http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/animaltrade/cins/2010/1005.htm

International trade: Customer Information Notes - GEN/10/05
Equine infectious anaemia confirmed in Wiltshire: Export trade
Purpose

1. This Customer Information Note (CIN) informs exporters that Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA) has been confirmed on 19 January 2010 in 2 imported horses on a premises in Wiltshire.

2. We have placed relevant export health certificates for live horses, horse genetic material and horse products on hold. Your AHDOs/Carlisle may also be recalling some export certificates which have been issued in the past 10 days.
Background

3. EIA is a viral disease that affects equidae (such as horses, mules and donkeys) only. There is no evidence that other animals are susceptible to infection with EIA. There is no risk to public health. The disease is also known as "swamp fever" because it occurs typically in low-lying swampy areas. EIA is a notifiable disease in the EU including the UK.
Information

4. Defra will issue further Customer Information Notes once we have further information.
Queries about Export Health Certificates and Further Enquiries

5. Any enquiries about exports or this Customer Information Note should be directed to Animal Health’s Central Operations Unit for Exports in Carlisle.

Page published: 19 January 2010
 
So, we can't export any horses just in case we send out an infected one, but we can continue to import horses - even infected ones????

Surely more sensible to close our borders to all horse movement - in and out - unless the horse is tested and certified EIA free??
 
FGS! Surely they should be putting imports on hold! You don't see France, Italy, Rumania etc putting a hold on exports and they have EIA already. This has made me so very angry I am going to have to stop typing before i break the damn keyboard!
 
I wonder how DEFRA is doing on the case of looking into every horse that has left this yard since the 22nd dec? Although, I would put money on it that the yard concerned will not be too forthcoming with their information.
And why are they still trading, if farms where infected with blue tongue, they were stopped from moving animals, same with TB?
DEFRA is busy putting agricultural restrictions on horses, but they don't seem to place the same importance when it comes to disease.
 
Isnt it a farce banning exports but not imports when it is an imported animal that brings the disease here!
What I can not work out though, & very much going off on a tangent is:
If this disease can be carried by an insect bite, what is the situation with many of our competition horses constantly travelling abroad in all disciplines all year round. Ok, they could start off as clean, & even have "say" an annual coggins test. What in gods name can any of us do to ensure that these horses do not bring the disease back with them through an insect bite? Worse still with a certificate for the duration giving a clean bill of health!
Or have I got this totally wrong? I really would appreciate your thoughts. I am very confused.
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Off to do that now..

Am I complaining about horses being allowed into the UK which carry the EIA virus and have not had a Coggins tests? Or because of the Tripartite agreement? for those of us who aren't so well versed (despite reading the threads), it might be good if you could give us some pointers as to what you really want us to drive home to DEFRA?

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God Almighty! Is every government department run by nincompoops?

Banning exports, but continuing to allow imports.....I can hardly believe I'm reading this right.
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Thats is great Sirena. Im rubbish at word stuff but very happy to copy your letter and post it. This whole thing is like some kind of very sick joke only for real
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VERY ROUGH DRAFT!!! also in NL

For those who may object to Racing, Breeding and Competition horses being exempt, please bear in mind that these industries are fairly strict anyway, they need the free movement, they are regulated and have been travelling freely for years without problems, try to impose this on them and any amendment will be doomed to failure. The current situation has arisen from a bin end dealer and he is NOT the only one.




EQUINE INFECTIOUS ANEMIA AND THE TPA

The recent importation of Infectious Equine Anemia into this country has shown that the Tripartite Agreement is deeply flawed as it stands.

This disease was brought into the country by a dealer who imported Rumanian horses from France. The horses concerned were in the UK for approx 4 weeks before a Coggins Test was undertaken. We were just lucky that it was in the depths of winter when very few or no biting insects were around, this could just have easily happened mid summer and a post import test would have been useless.

EIA is endemic to Rumania and all horses, barring those bound for slaughter in Italy, by law should have a negative Coggins Test before leaving Rumania. Horses intended for immediate slaughter in Italy are somehow ending up in the hands of unscrupulous dealers and entering the UK via France to be sold on for the ridden leisure market and this is how we find ourselves in the position we are in today.

Any horse testing positive for EIA in the UK will be euthanised immediately, the compensation paid to any affected owners is £1, no matter what the real worth of the animal.

Under the TPA's current legislation, no horses imported from France and Ireland to the UK need undertake ANY health checks and it is not only EIA that our herd is at risk from.

We the undersigned demand an amendment to the TPA so that only Racing, Breeding or Competition horses are covered. We want to see rigorous health checks undertaken on all other horses imported to the UK no matter where their point of origin is.
 
Hmmmmmmm. Would that really be a bad thing? A short and temporary pause in the relentless churning out of horses which leads to all manner of questionable animals washing about like flotsam and jetsam?

It's all very well breeding for this, that and the other conformational and ability trait, but do you always get it?

I think it wouldn't do any harm to have a massive rethink on how many animals are bred across every pet and food species, since it has become almost impossible to control disease, unfavourable hereditary conditions and the undeniable surplus of creatures which make humanity towards them rare at best, non-existant at worst.
 
If they came in via Belgium, then they're not covered under the TPA & should have had all the health checks, and the neccessary accompanying paperwork.
 
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If they came in via Belgium, then they're not covered under the TPA & should have had all the health checks, and the neccessary accompanying paperwork.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, changes they did come over via Belgium.

The dealer who imports these animals is well known around the Sales circuit.
They are usually discribed as "Hungarian Drafts" or "Belgian Drafts".
At one particular Sale, it wasn't unusual for him to leave 2 or 3 of them on the lorry for the duration of the Sale. This was stopped after complaints of them stood in a hot/cold box for up to 10 hours at a time.
He was then, and still does, at this Sale, given a pen at the front of the lairage to off-load them.
In August there were 4...which the story was they were going to Potters the next day..all 4 were "Drafts"!
He has been bringing over these "Drafts" for at leats 2 yrs now...it was only a matter of time.
If DEFRA was any sort of competant dept. they would have closed this loophole years ago.
There is also another charming dealer in Sth Devon who also likes to off-load these "Draft" types...equally as unscrupulous as the dealer at the centre of this outbreak. I wonder what they have in ATM?
 
Martha, are they shipped directly from Ostend?
If so, that's very interesting......... I wasn't aware that livestock used that port..........or, legitimately at least......
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Ostend wasn't mentioned to me today but i'll go back and ask.
I did find this though, first paragraph.

copied from DEFRA website

I wish to inform to the House that on 19 January 2010 the Chief Veterinary Officer for the United Kingdom confirmed Equine Infectious Anaemia (EIA) in two horses in Wiltshire following importation from Romania via Belgium.

Two premises are currently under restriction and the two infected horses will be humanely destroyed in line with existing regulations.

The animals arrived in a group of 10 horses, nine of which originated from Romania and one from Belgium. The nine Romanian horses were tested for EIA as part of routine post-import testing. Two of the horses tested positive, the remaining seven tested negative. The horse that originated in Belgium will be tested later today. As part of our control measures we will be undertaking a detailed epidemiological investigation.

The risk of further spread among horses is considered by experts to be very low, but this will be kept under review pending further epidemiological investigation. Expert advice from the Health Protection Agency is that EIA is not a risk to human health and that there is no evidence that this incident presents a risk to the local community.

This is the first case of equine infectious anaemia infected animals being imported into Great Britain since 1976 and shows the success of our post import testing regime. These were apparently healthy horses carrying a notifiable disease that we are keen to keep out of Great Britain.
 
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