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Solanos, another horse found positive to the EIA, has just arrived to IHP, after he was saved from being put down!

  • Veterinary

(April 2, 2010)
Solanos arrived today from Abruzzo, after spending the last two months confined into his stall and risking being put down. His fault? Being positive to a disease that, while not being very dangerous or easily transmissible (among the other things, humans cannot catch it), is considered like the plague by the Italian Local Health authorities (ASL) and some owners.

But Solanos has been lucky. His stubborn owner refused to see him killed for such an absurd reason, and we joined her with our strong will to save another life and to continue our battle to affirm the principle that horses positive to EIA have the right to keep on having a normal life at their owners’ side.
Finally, our thanks go to ASL 11 of Empoli that, as in previous occasions, demonstrated to be concerned about equines’ wellbeing and conceded the authorization for the entry of another “sick” horse in its territory. In fact, Solanos will now live with Nestore, Ringo, Cristal Sky, Dimmi Che Sì, Foxy and Rambo, thus enlarging the only free herd of horses positive to EIA currently living in Italy. All of them are in great shape and, since the controls began four years ago, none of them has ever had any problem connected to EIA.

For more information regarding the scientific aspects of Equine Infectious Anaemia and the little danger it poses, we suggest you to read our in-depth report, written with the collaboration of researchers that have been studying this disease for years.
Here we just want to point out some important facts and spread the word, in the hope to give a better understanding of this matter and avoid more indiscriminate killings, as it has sadly happened in the last years.
A horse positive to the blood test doesn’t represent a danger: if it is a healthy carrier – just as the majority of the equines found positives to the Coggin’s test, who don’t show any symptoms of the disease – the chances it will ever transmit the virus are almost inexistent. We now have certified proof of this.
The Ministerial Order still in act dictates the animal’s isolation and sequestration, but not its killing. To the point that, when we have been informed in time (just like in Solanos’ case), we gave warning to the competent Authorities, for the unnecessary killing of an animal can be considered a crime punishable by the law.

In regard of what it was said above, we invite the ASLs and stables’ owners not to take a threatening behaviour when a horse is found positive to the Coggin’s test; they need to give time to the owner to find a solution that will ensure the horse’s wellbeing.
Even the Health Ministry, in an official note, has declared the living together of positive individuals should be favoured, because it doesn’t represent a danger or an increase of the risk of transmission. Thus, we invite anyone who is aware of pressures made on owners to put down positive horses, to promptly alert us and give us the chance to intervene.

Finally, a call for help: as said above, the current Ministerial Order (which we hope will soon be modified based on what the scientific research has demonstrated) dictates the isolation of positive animals. Thus is still necessary to find a new place for these horses. Our estate in not able to receive a big number of these animals, due to the room and the work needed to properly take care of them. So we ask to anyone with love for horses and owning a suitable estate with all the criteria set by the Ministerial Order, to destiny it to house positive horses, for all those owners who rightly want to ensure an appropriate quality of life to their animals.
In this regard, we are available to give advice and suggestions. We want to help people and to create other herds of EIA positive horses in Italy, in order to avoid useless stall confinements or, worse, killings or slaughtering. Most importantly, all of this would help to demonstrate that the current alarmism is greatly unjustified, and thus push for a substantial modification of the Ministerial Order about EIA.