DenverPost.com - Full Article
Colorado officials think 240 horses were on the premises with the infected horse and were sold to people in 20 states
By ANNA STAVER | astaver@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: September 7, 2018
A sick horse from Weld County is the reason hundreds of horses in 19 states need to be tracked down, tested and potentially euthanized or live the rest of their lives in quarantine.
And what frustrates horse owners the most is Colorado law prohibits the Department of Agriculture from releasing the name of the lot that sold the sick horse.
“We all know already,” Old Glory Ranch owner Brittnee Woodward-Whithead said. “I don’t know why it’s a big secret.”
What Colorado State Veterinarian Keith Roehr could say is that a gelding (a neutered male) tested positive for Equine Infectious Anemia on Aug. 24. The viral disease, which is spread by bloodsucking insects like horse flies, has no cure. Federal law requires an infected animal spend the rest of its days at least 200 yards from any other horse if the owner doesn’t want to euthanize it.
The rules also require any horse that came into contact with the infected animal be held in quarantine for 60 days because that’s how long it can take from exposure to show a positive test.
And that’s where the problem started...
Read more here:
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/09/07/sick-weld-county-horse-starts-multi-state-quarantine/
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