Herpes on the Horizon?
by Nanci Stevenson
On October 25 the Kentucky State
Veterinarians Office quarantined two
barns at Churchill Downs when a
horse showed signs of the neurological
form of the equine herpes virus
(EHV-1). Bio-security measures
were immediately put into place and
the sick horse was transported to an
equine hospital in Lexington, KY. The horse later tested positive for
the disease.
By November 7 the quarantine
was lifted and all the remaining horses
from both barns were released after
testing negative two weeks after
the initial exposure. The single infected
horse remained in isolation in
Lexington.
EHV-1 is an airborne virus that is
belived to be contagious up to 35-feet. However, not all horses actively
shedding
the virus will show symptoms. In
the past four years there have been a signifi cant number of outbreaks
of EHV-1 in Maryland, causing the
MD Department of Agriculture to
add “equine neurologic syndrome” to
the list of infectious diseases that veterinarians are required to report
to the State Veterinarian's Office.
AHC Wants All Horses To Be Counted
Here at The Equiery, we listen to
horse people constantly requesting
more support from the government,
be it in the form of better health testing,
cost share for necropsies and disposal,
more inspection veterinarians, a
universal electronic coggins system, or
national equine health passports.
Or money for horse parks.
But
then horse people stubbornly do not want the government to know
how many horses they have. Without
a clear idea of the equine population,
our lawmakers cannot adequately
budget for the costs inherent in supporting the equine industry.
That is why the American Horse
Council (AHC) is calling on all members
of the horse owning community
to participate in the 2007 Census of
Agriculture to be conducted by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA).
Th e USDA reports that the 2007
Census of Agriculture will help to
measure land use and ownership,
operator characteristics, production
practices, income and expenditures
and many other areas. The AHC
wants to ensure that the American
horse industry is properly accounted
for in the upcoming Census. There
are three ways in which horse owners
can participate in the USDA’s 2007
Census of Agriculture:
1. If your farm received a survey
for census participation in the past
(the last census was taken in 2002),
your farm will be mailed a new survey
that you can fi ll in and mail back.
2. If your farm was not part of
the 2002 Census, or you are not sure
if you participated, you can fill out a
basic USDA census registration form
online. Once this form is submitted
online, a survey will be mailed to you.
3. Finally, beginning in late December
2007, the Census survey will
be available to all farm owners and
operators to fi ll out online even if they
have not pre-registered.
According
to an AHC report, the American horse industry has a $102
billion impact on the U.S. economy
and supports 1.4 million U.S. jobs.
There are more than 9.2 million horses
in the United States, making the U.S.
horse-owning population the largest
in the world.
Census forms will be mailed on
December 28, 2007. The mailing
will include further instructions about
how to log in and respond to the Census
via a secure web connection. All
Census forms must be completed by
February 2, 2008.
For more
about the 2007 Census of Agrculture, click here |
AHC Comments on Noncompetitive
Entertainment Horses
The American Horse Council has submitted comments supporting
the United States Department of
Agriculture’s proposed rules to allow
noncompetitive entertainment horses
from countries affected with contagious
equine metritis to be temporarily
imported into the United States
under certain safeguards.
The AHC stated its recognition
of the need for a new category within
the import regulations to further accommodate
the entertainment sector
of the horse industry. Many problems
have arisen in the past with the importation
of noncompetitive entertainment
horses and their continual
application for permits. The AHC
supports the amendment of the current
import regulations to provide a
solution to these problems.
The AHC has raised one concern
in their comments. As written,
the proposed rule provides for no limit
on the period of time that the imported
horses can remain in the U.S. The
AHC is concerned that USDA may
not be able to enforce the requirements
specified for these horses over
extended periods of time.
New Immigration Enforcement Rules
Enjoined for Now
October 9, 2007 a federal court
in Northern California barred the
Departments of Homeland Security
(DHS) and Commerce from enforcing
new immigration measures,
known as the “no-match” rules, that
were announced in mid-August. The
rules would have stepped up enforcement
of U.S. immigration laws against
employers.
In granting the preliminary injunction,
the court said that that “the
plaintiffs have demonstrated that they
will be irreparably harmed if DHS is
permitted to enforce the new rule. On
the other side of the scale, the government
would suffer significantly less harm
as a result of a delay in the rule’s
implementation.”It is expected that the government
will appeal the decision, which
could take six months or more for a
final ruling.
The cornerstone
of the new rules
was the announced crackdown on
employers who “knowingly” hired undocumented
workers. It would have
required an employer that received a “no match” letter from
the Social Security
Administration (SSA), indicating
that an employee’s name and social
security number did not match, to
resolve the discrepancy within 90 days
or terminate the employee. If the employer
did not follow a rule within the
“safe harbor” procedure, it would be
subject to increased fines and criminal
penalties (please visit equiery.com for
more information).
The Social
Security Administration
was to begin sending out “nomatch” letters on September
14, the day the new rules were to go into effect.
In the decision, the court said
that the plaintiff s had raised serious
questions about the legality of the
Bush administration’s new rule.
“The magnitude of the DHS’s safe
harbor rule is staggering,” the court
said. If enacted, DHS and SSA will
immediately mail no-match packets
to 140,000 employers, identifying nomatches
for approximately 8 million
employees. Th ere can be no doubt
that the eff ects of the rule’s implementation
will be severe.”
The lawsuit was brought by a coalition
of business groups and unions,
including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
the AFL-CIO, and associations
representing agriculture, construction
employers, and restaurants.
It argued that the new rules were in
violation of the Immigration and
Regulatory Control Act of 1986, were
arbitrary and capricious, and were
outside of the authority of the
DHS and SSA.
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