Norwich horse welfare charity site in quarantine after 'highly contagious' disease detected
A case of strangles was found in one of the horses being kept at Redwings Hapton site near Norwich.
A Norfolk horse welfare charity has placed one of its sites into quarantine after a highly contagious disease was detected in one of its animals.
A case of strangles was found in one of the horses being kept at Redwings Hapton site near Norwich.
Strangles is a bacterial disease which can lead to animals forming abscesses.
Redwings says there is no risk of it spreading further, provided that quarantine measures are followed.
Nic de Brauwere, Head of Welfare and Behaviour at Redwings, said: “We routinely put precautionary quarantine in place on our farms when any equine shows possible signs of an infectious disease.
"Testing is done and typically we will stop quarantine when we can establish that the signs were due to another cause, relying on the laboratory results and the expertise of our vets to assess the case as it develops.
“We regularly deal with cases of strangles and other infectious diseases in new arrivals at our reception facility where the equines remain until they are disease free.
"It’s very unusual to find a case in a longer-term resident, but we approach it in exactly the same way to ensure we haven’t missed a disease getting through our net or finding a new way into the herd.
“On this occasion, a single field of ponies within one of our resident herds at our headquarters in Norfolk had been placed into precautionary quarantine and the pony we were concerned about then tested positive for strangles.
"The affected pony has been moved to our dedicated quarantine yard. No further cases have been identified but we have adopted an early and widespread quarantine to prevent direct spread from horse to horse, and indirectly via equipment and people.
“It is a very interesting case given it was found in an elderly resident who has been at Redwings for many years, and we haven’t been managing any other cases of strangles at either this site or our quarantine yard."
“We will maintain quarantine until we are assured that there are no cases on the farm. All fields in the quarantine areas have been taped off to members of the public, so it important to adhere to the restrictions we’ve put in place.”