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Over the next few days MAF Biosecurity will visit properties stabling 97 horses brought into New Zealand from Australia since August 1 as local authorities intensify their response to the outbreak of equine influenza (EI) across the Tasman.
New Zealand Equine Health Association technical adviser John O'Flaherty said all of the properties would be visited in the next few days to check if there was any possibility the disease had reached New Zealand.
Owners had been contacted and asked to take particular care of their horses and to contact MAF if they had any concerns, he told Trackside racing channel.
O'Flaherty said at this stage there was no reason why the local racing industry could not keep on going.
"There is no cause for us to do anything other than check that we haven't got it [the influenza] and in that event stop it getting here."
He said it was too early to say what the level of risk was that the disease would reach New Zealand.
The disease was highly contagious but had a very short incubation period of only one or two days.
He said because the New Zealand horse population had not been exposed to the influenza previously any outbreak would be explosive.
"If we had it, it should occur very quickly and we should have signs of it already given that the last horse importation was probably over a week ago into New Zealand from Australia.
"We will be watching very carefully but we have plans in place in the event of it coming here."
New Zealand authorities on Saturday closed the borders to horses that had been in Australia, including dozens of top American, European and Asian stallions worth an estimated $500 million.
They had just arrived for the breeding season, which was due to start next week.
Six international "shuttle sires" bound for New Zealand were now stranded in quarantine in Australia.
They are Stravinsky, Iffraaj, Ekraar, Storming Home, Zenno Rob Roy and Jungle Pocket.
With the breeding season due to start, a number of broodmare owners will be thwarted in their plans to send their mares to Australia to be served by stallions there. Some mares have already travelled over, including Polish Princess, who was to be served by Encosta de Lago, who is known to have the virus.
The spring racing plans of many trainers in both Australia and New Zealand will also be severely disrupted.
In Australia race tracks were again closed yesterday as cases were confirmed outside Sydney, with rural New South Wales and Queensland affected.
Authorities said three horses have shown symptoms of suspected equine influenza at a Queensland equestrian event where 300 horses and their owners remain in lockdown.
"There is one confirmed case in rural New South Wales, where one of the horses in Centennial Park had visited," Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said yesterday. Another nine suspected cases in New South Wales are being investigated.
The highly contagious respiratory disease knocks a horse out of action for two to three weeks with a fever, hacking cough, nasal discharge and tiredness. It can be fatal in foals.
The disease is not infectious to humans, but can be carried on clothing and spread to other horses.
"We need to make sure the procedures are followed," Racing Victoria's Stephen Allanson said. "We are focusing on containing this virus and getting racing back again."
Officials are already counting the costs of the suspended race meetings and to the horse breeding industry, with initial estimates placed at A$1 billion ($1.11 billion). And it will likely get worse, with officials expected to cancel racing until at least Wednesday.
In 1986, an equine flu outbreak in South Africa forced that nation's racing industry to close down for five months.
* Anyone who suspects their horse may be showing symptoms should contact their vet immediately or phone the MAF Biosecurity New Zealand emergency hotline 0800 809 966.
- NZPA
