 |
HORSES NEED NOT BE
SLAUGHTERED |
The British Horse Society is being inundated with
calls from worried horse owners who have heard that horses would be slaughtered
along with livestock on an farm infected with foot and mouth.
This is the information being given out by the MAFF helpline.
THIS IS NOT TRUE. Horses would NOT have to be slaughtered.
They do not get the disease, and they cannot carry the disease in the medical
sense, though they can transmit it via their hooves, just as humans on their
boots or cars on their tyres.
The BHS want to reassure horse owners everywhere that horses on infected farms
would not have to be slaughtered. This has been confirmed by Animal Health
Officers at the Ministry of Agriculture.
However, they would probably have to be confined for several months.
DON'T HACK OUT
The BHS has been advising horse owners since the middle of last week not to
hack out on bridleways, common land, or moorland, and to stay away fromroads in
rural areas. Although the movement order does not apply to horses, the BHS
advise that horse owners should not transport their horses anywhere, and is
asking those holding events to postpone them until the situation is more
stable.
 |
|
|
