Zara Nicholson
The authorities have slapped a ban on the movement of horses into the Western Cape after an outbreak of African horse sickness in the rest of the country.
So far they have confirmed 92 cases of the disease with 52 deaths.
However, they say the South African horse racing industry will not be affected by the ban.
The chief director of veterinary services in the Western Cape, Dr Pieter Koen, announced the restrictions with immediate effect because of the increasing number of cases of horse sickness in other provinces.
“Thus far we have had 92 confirmed cases of which 52 have died in this season. Due to persistent high rainfall in the rest of the country the number of cases has increased dramatically and African horse sickness is also occurring a lot earlier than in previous years,” a statement by the Department of Agriculture said.
One of the predictions of global climate change modelling is that the distribution of many insect-borne diseases, such as horse sickness and malaria, will change with the changing rainfall patterns. Horse sickness is transmitted by a midge.
An outbreak of the disease in the African Horse Sickness Control Area could potentially result in the deaths of many horses as well as place South Africa’s export status in jeopardy, possibly leading to a two-year ban by the EU and causing major financial and horse losses to the equine industry as a whole, the department said.
Horse owners were “strongly discouraged” from attempting to move horses from anywhere in the infected zone into the Western Cape Control Area as the risk of transmitting the disease was increasing daily.
Peter Gibson, chief executive of Racing South Africa, welcomed the department’s decision.
“We support the decision one hundred percent and call on all horse owners to respect the decision in the interest of South Africa’s horse trade,” Gibson said.
All horses coming into the country have to come through the control area at Kenilworth Race Course.
Gibson said: “In order for us to maintain our export status we have to ensure that African horse sickness does not occur in the control area and the only way to do that is for the South African Veterinary Services to restrict movement from areas which are affected. It is a normal animal health control decision and one we expect every summer.”
Gibson said the restrictions would have “virtually no impact” on the horse racing industry as the Western Cape’s horse racing season was now over.
Horses are allowed to move out of the Western Cape to compete in other regions.
Horses are only allowed to enter the Western Cape via Beaufort West where they have to stay for three weeks to ensure they are clear of the disease.
They are held there under the supervision of a local state veterinarian.