Report from Ipswich Meeting

Sunday, 07 October 2007

"I went expecting so much. There was a good sized crowd of horse people from across the spectrum - perhaps 2 or 3 thousand. There were a number of representatives from the media.

The entree was excellent - Janine Dwyer who spoke of her first hand experince as a vet at Morgan Park and gave some timely reminders on the proper use of self administered drugs such as Bute and Antibiotics because as we all know by now or will soon find out when we get infected we will probably not get a vet to attend but will instead be given the drugs and advice to cope as best we can.

Richard Toft another veterinarian who has been very much at the coal face of treating infected horses in the Minden, Tallegalla and Brookfield areas reiterated what Janine had said.

David Lovell spoke next about a plan he and a group of veterinarians had submitted to the DPI for consideration.

This plan contained three target goals
1. Horse Welfare - the need for easy access to qualified vets in emergency and the availability of equine hospitals
2. Get the horse industry moving again before the infrastructure that small businesses had built up fell apart and the small business went out of business
3. Eradication of the virus

David made the valid point and one that so many of us have made, if containment was going to work then why did it fail so miserably in Warwick which was the perfect experiment for conatainment. The horses were locked down, there was only one gate in and out and it was manned. Yet the virus flew.

He also made the statement that again most of us have been saying or wondering, how many infected properties are there really given the DPI are no longer confirming new infections in existing areas. He hazarded that there might be 4 times the number officially stated. He likened the daily updates from the DPI to the Iraqi Propaganda minister who kept reporting to the public that they were winning the war right up to the Alliance strike on Bagdad. His personal opinion is that the disease has got out of hand.

He also made the point that for this disease to be truly counted as eradicated every horse in the red zone needs to show that they are producing antibodies and that this could only happen if they recovered from infection or were immunised. He commented on the waste of the vaccine vaccinating only a small percentage of the horse population.

Following David Lovell was the main course - the Head of the DPI. Unfortunately there was nothing new except the news that once expenditure on trying to contain this outbreak reaches 2% of GDP for the industry they will give up and call it endemic. Now I am not sure if this is a state based figure but when pressed he gave a figure of $60 million dollars. Apparently they are .2% on the way.

He spoke of their priority on communication, a half million dollars to place 90 adds in papers, letterbox drops (huh when?). He mentioned the 280,000 hits on the website. He said they had plenty of vets - 57 of them. He said they had seconded stafff from other projects and that there were at the moment 700 staff working long hours on the outbreak.

He said they were working to a plan, the decade old AUSVETPLAN in case of an outbreak of Equine Influenza. (David Lovell also mentioned this plan and that one of the authors Reg Pascoe predicted the flow of a possible outbreak and the current outbreak is mirroring that prediction - the plan might not be working but the predication that was used to create it is)

He said they were confident that they were on track and that eradication was achievable. He would not give any details of dates other than the vaccination of the buffer zone would take 8 weeks.

There was also a vetinary spokeman form the DPI and another from Animal Health Australia. Apparently they are doing a great job and things are going to plan.
There was no sitting member from Mrs Bligh's place though Cameron Thompson, Ian Rickuss and the Ipswich Mayor were in attendance.

Following the unenlightening spin doctor speeches from the authorities several people gave impact statements.

The first from Andrew Stevens, IP3 in Queensland. On the 20th August he contacted the DPI as he had a sick horse that had just came to his property from a competition in Maitland and he had heard there was a possible outbreak of EI. The DPI came, took blood samples, placed him under quarantine and forgot to come back. Eventually someone from Bio Security did return his calls to find out if the tests were positive to confirm that he did indeed have a horse with Equine Influenza on his property. The DPI also discouraged him from telling his neighbours to avoid panic.

He watched as the infection jumped from neighbour to neighbour, on the wind and then watched in amazement as two of those infected properties were not placed in quarantine and further never implemented any biosecurity measures and continued to drive in and out to work and who knows elsewhere spreading the virus as they went.

Next up we heard from Nicole Kuff and her friend Nicole who went to Morgan Park to give a 15minute dressage display on behalf of Dressage Qld at the start of the Three Day Event. On the 25th August the event oprganisers realised they had sick horses on the grounds and contacted the DPI to advise them and ask for assistance. Believing they could not legally make anyone stay they adivised all competitors that the DPI were on their way and that probably they would be locked down.

All but a few individuals elected to stay including the two Nicoles. We know where the ones who left went - Tamborine and Brookfield.

Continuing the statement from Nicole on the experience at Morgan Park. People on site began to dig in for a long stay to play their part in containg the outbreak of Equine Influenza. The Queensland Government provided food for the people and feed for the horses, supplied and paid for farriers and vets, washing machines and driers, a twice daily bus service into Warwick.

However anomalies on the correct procedures for leaving the park began to show the unpreparedness and lack of knowledge of the authorities. First they just had to scrub boots and wash hands, then they were told to have a shower and change clothes, then wash your hair and then back to just wash hands and dip boots. Nicole described the joy of finally being released to go home only to find the horror of infection just down the road from her horses at home. So many feel bewildered and angry that they had willingly been locked in quarantine for 60 days with the expectation that the flu would be stopped only to find that it has spread so far and infected thousands of horses.

There followed angry questions, most people wanting to know some sort of idea of dates, where is the great communication that was spoken of when so many have never been contacted by the DPI even when their neighbours became infected, how will they get a clearance after infection if the DPI have never even tested their horses.

The overlying question why was the first shipment of vaccine not devoted to the buffer zone - the final line of defense to keep the flu out of the country. If vaccinating the buffer zone will take 8 weeks then how do they expect to keep it contained when it has spread so far in only 6 weeks.

Where are the plans to help with treatment of infected horses. Why is the airborne spread of the disease ignored. An admission that both flies and birds might be spreading it illicited no plan to combat this.

What about the Brumby population in the 'natural features and escarpments' that are being used as part of the buffer zone.

Will further doses of vaccine be wasted on horses in the vicinity of the outbreak such as at Rosehill?

The DPI representatives came with a prepared speech, made no attempt to even comment on the proposal and questions put by David Lovell, refused to offer any sort of end date or proposed end date, offered no plan of care for infected horses now in the thousands in Queensland and planned to rise by the authorities, no intention to improve the communication which only the DPI considers adequate to date not the end user.
The DPI head was seen to be scribbling furiously during the damning reports from both the report from the first infected property at Minden and from Morgan Park. Who knows.

The meeting started well but there were no answers and no obvious indication that this virus requires the industry to be handled as a whole and not piecemeal. No indication that the myriad of stats dragged out of us every 4 or 5 years on the Census forms has ever been used to quantify the value of the Pleasure and Performance Horse Industry.

Those attending were obviously fustrated, angry, confused and despairing. There was little comfort for any, no confidence that those in control were in fact in control of anything other than watching over the slow strangulation of our industry
For me I was left in no doubt that we appear to have little control or say in the way this is played out but that we are apparently to blame due to poor bio security. All I can ask is how does one stop the wind!"

Janice O'Connor
Comanche Lodge