sywell
Well-Known Member
Responsibility and Cost Sharing
for Animal Health and Welfare
I think that Brigadier Jephsons reservations are quite justified any one reading this 120 page report will find very little about Equines and in the light of the other 11 members not directly associated with the Equine Industry apart from Professor Tim Morris who I associate mainly with the Racing Industry. The livestock industry does have something in common with the racing industry as there are large numbers of animals in the same place but generally horses are stabled singly or in small groups. The need for high quality bio security measures if you have 40000 chickens or thousands of cows in one building is something the agricultural industry and DEFRA should work together on but applying those standards to horses is wrong. The horse lives to 20 to 30 years and people have the same horses for long periods of time and take great care of them. In livestock farming the lifespan is six weeks to 2 years. One has to ask what is the risk of exotic disease in the UK and what can be done to prevent it. I think the risk is quite low and DEFRA can take cost effective measures to reduce the risk without any new regulations or new bodies. First they have to cancel the tripartite agreement that allows animals into the UK from France and Ireland without health checks. At a recent meeting with the State Veterinary Service it was quite clear they were not aware of the number of donkeys coming into the UK from France who along with Zebras can be carriers of exotic disease without showing clinical signs. Co-ordinate research with other EU countries, so duplicate research is not being carried on. Evaluate the risk from containers, lorries and aircraft of contaminated vectors getting into the UK. Make sure that when vaccines or preventative drugs are available make sure they are at the lowest price even Vat free. Make horse owners aware of the measures they can take to prevent the spread of the disease when the contaminated vectors are active, like rugging horses,flyscreen stables and insect repellents. The question of compensation must be addressed, as one of the factors in stopping movement of horses out of a control zone is to make sure that adequate compensation is paid. As I understand the position is if a horse has an exotic disease for which there is no cure it has to be put down to prevent the suffering of the horse then no compensation is paid only if DERFA put down a horse which does not have the disease is compensation paid and at the moment it is £1 but it is suggested that it should be £2500 which is un acceptable. As an example if you have just bought Totilas for 10 million Euros and had a text message saying that there was a suspected exotic disease and you were quite close I would suggest there would be many people who would move the horse within 10 minutes or before the officer responsible in Nobel House had picked the phone up to put the exclusion zone in place.
In the report it says that bovine TB cost £36.4 million with a further £56.1 million from the AHA and one can well see why DEFRA wants to reduce this figure but horses cost DEFRA very little. One has to take this into account
I think that if insurance underwriters came up with a figure for disease insurance it would be expensive and many people cannot afford to insure horses even now. I think the likelyhood of insurance being an answer to the problem for horse owners is unlikely to succeed.
At a meeting with Hilary Benn when he was in Government I pointed out that unlike the horse industry on the continent where horses are livestock and get taxation treatment the same as farmers so there are no local taxes like rates on buildings and lower rates of Vat, in the UK we pay rates on our indoor schools per foot like a supermarket and he curtly dismissed this comment thats general taxation not really understanding our competitors do not pay. Horse owners have no wish to be a burden on the state but neither do they see why there is no level playing field throughout the EU.
for Animal Health and Welfare
I think that Brigadier Jephsons reservations are quite justified any one reading this 120 page report will find very little about Equines and in the light of the other 11 members not directly associated with the Equine Industry apart from Professor Tim Morris who I associate mainly with the Racing Industry. The livestock industry does have something in common with the racing industry as there are large numbers of animals in the same place but generally horses are stabled singly or in small groups. The need for high quality bio security measures if you have 40000 chickens or thousands of cows in one building is something the agricultural industry and DEFRA should work together on but applying those standards to horses is wrong. The horse lives to 20 to 30 years and people have the same horses for long periods of time and take great care of them. In livestock farming the lifespan is six weeks to 2 years. One has to ask what is the risk of exotic disease in the UK and what can be done to prevent it. I think the risk is quite low and DEFRA can take cost effective measures to reduce the risk without any new regulations or new bodies. First they have to cancel the tripartite agreement that allows animals into the UK from France and Ireland without health checks. At a recent meeting with the State Veterinary Service it was quite clear they were not aware of the number of donkeys coming into the UK from France who along with Zebras can be carriers of exotic disease without showing clinical signs. Co-ordinate research with other EU countries, so duplicate research is not being carried on. Evaluate the risk from containers, lorries and aircraft of contaminated vectors getting into the UK. Make sure that when vaccines or preventative drugs are available make sure they are at the lowest price even Vat free. Make horse owners aware of the measures they can take to prevent the spread of the disease when the contaminated vectors are active, like rugging horses,flyscreen stables and insect repellents. The question of compensation must be addressed, as one of the factors in stopping movement of horses out of a control zone is to make sure that adequate compensation is paid. As I understand the position is if a horse has an exotic disease for which there is no cure it has to be put down to prevent the suffering of the horse then no compensation is paid only if DERFA put down a horse which does not have the disease is compensation paid and at the moment it is £1 but it is suggested that it should be £2500 which is un acceptable. As an example if you have just bought Totilas for 10 million Euros and had a text message saying that there was a suspected exotic disease and you were quite close I would suggest there would be many people who would move the horse within 10 minutes or before the officer responsible in Nobel House had picked the phone up to put the exclusion zone in place.
In the report it says that bovine TB cost £36.4 million with a further £56.1 million from the AHA and one can well see why DEFRA wants to reduce this figure but horses cost DEFRA very little. One has to take this into account
I think that if insurance underwriters came up with a figure for disease insurance it would be expensive and many people cannot afford to insure horses even now. I think the likelyhood of insurance being an answer to the problem for horse owners is unlikely to succeed.
At a meeting with Hilary Benn when he was in Government I pointed out that unlike the horse industry on the continent where horses are livestock and get taxation treatment the same as farmers so there are no local taxes like rates on buildings and lower rates of Vat, in the UK we pay rates on our indoor schools per foot like a supermarket and he curtly dismissed this comment thats general taxation not really understanding our competitors do not pay. Horse owners have no wish to be a burden on the state but neither do they see why there is no level playing field throughout the EU.
