Outbreak Alert

Defra has announced the first non-executive members of the new Animal Health and Welfare Board for England: Stewart Houston, Stuart Roberts, Mark Tufnell and veterinary surgeon Tim Morris. They will join chair Michael Seals in developing the Government's strategic Animal Health and Welfare policy. The Board will make direct recommendations to ministers on policy affecting the health and welfare of all kept animals such as farm animals, horses and pets. The creation of the Board was one of the main recommendations of the Responsibility and Cost Sharing Advisory Group, chaired by Rosemary Radcliffe, which reported in December 2010. Commenting, Carl Padgett, President of the British Veterinary Association, said: "Responsibility and cost sharing has been on the agenda for some time and we are pleased to see that it is now progressing. "The BVA was supportive of the recommendation of the Radcliffe group to create an expert Animal Health and Welfare Board and we welcome the announcement that it will now start work ...

Defra recently hosted a brainstorming exercise on the threat posed by exotic disease to the UK's equine population and to the success of the equestrian games. Including the Para Olympics, 358 horses representing 52 countries will converge on Greenwich Park where they will be stabled in open barn type accommodation. For the first time in the Games' history an Equine Staging Post will be set up some 10miles from the Greenwich site. Teams will arrive at prearranged times and the horses will undergo a clinical health and documentation check by the London Olympic Committee's (LOCOG) veterinary team with responsibility for bio security led by BEVA Past President, Prof Josh Slater. Any suspect horses will be held in isolation for observation and further tests. Clear horses will be transported directly onwards to the Greenwich site after which there are no further LOCOG programmed health checks and responsibility for the horses' health falls to the FEI working with the teams own vets. At the Staging Post all kit will ...

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