On the good ole ABC tonight they had a talk back session on the current Equine Flu epidemic which has ravaged the Australian Horse Racing, Jumping, Betting and Breeding industry over the past week.
Vets and trainers spoke; people irate at Quarantine failure; people confined to Horse Stables for the next 50 days as the ban on horse movement across Australia hits home; people bemoaning the loss of income from their valuable stud animals or even their simple trail riding business. One could sympathise.
Then there was an interview with a bookmaker who pointed out that through a well managed campaign, as soon as they realised the extent of the epidemic , the Totalizator Agency had managed to redirect a large portion of the money usually reserved for horse races onto the greyhounds and overseas race meetings.
"So," queried the announcer, " No great losses at the TAB then?"
"No, not really," the chirpy parasite quipped,"Our contingency plans worked very well. We had record betting on the greyhounds last Saturday night."
Good grief.
At this point, as I was beginning to develop a sharpened and nasty cynical edge, another listener called and asked why there was all this fuss about Equine Flu.
"After all," he mused, "It doesn't kill them."
I did a double take. It doesn't kill them? Then what on earth are they making all this fuss about?
"Ah," the resident veterinary spokesperson piped up," But it restricts what they can do. I mean people keep horses to ride them and if they're sick they can't ride them. No, we need to keep this dreaded thing contained and eliminated or we will lose valuable time from the racing circuit."
Let me get this straight. This disease does not kill horses. It puts them out of action (as it does us) for a few weeks after which, true, they may need to regain form. It does not affect their DNA or their reproductive capabilities over any long term period and while it may interfere with a training schedule, it is non-transmissable to humans and totally treatable.
So at the end of the day, the real reason we are upset by this disease is that it inconveniences the racing world?
One listener asked why we don't simply let it run its course in the racing community and allow the horses to gain some immunity through building up antibodies. After all, in other countries, such as the US, it is endemic and they seem to manage to maintain an equestrian industry.
"Ah," the resident expert on the radio laughed, rather patronisingly I thought," Yes, well, but think of the time we would lose. No, no, we couldn't do that at all. That situation would not be acceptable."(or words to that effect)
Get over yourselves people!!! These horses are not out ploughing fields to feed the nation, they are running around a track for our amusement for Pete's sake!!!! And speaking of lost time, just what exactly is this total shutdown costing in terms of income for a whole range of people? The NSW Spring Racing Carnival has been cancelled. What about the jockeys, farriers and other specialists who don't have another string to their mortgage paying bow?
I would be interested to know how this disease is treated in other countries. Is everything quarantined and shutdown or do the sick horses just get withdrawn from the race and rested for a month or so? I may be being incredibly naive but it seems to me that this preciousness about our clean (previously) quarantine status is linked directly to how the disease would inconvenience horse trainers, should it become a part of life, and as a result is costing everybody ELSE dearly now.
POST SCRIPT
Since I wrote this I have heard more (hard to avoid it really as it is the only thing being discussed on the news/current affair shows etc) and it seems that mares in foal may miscarry if they catch it. OK, that's not a good thing. Also, it can kill young foals, also not a good thing.
I don't know. Perhaps I was a bit harsh. What do you think?
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