What Australia doesn't want you to know




Veterinary Newsletter to members in Northern Territory and in bordering towns, to livestock industry groups in the Northern Territory, and to departmental staff.


Department of Agriculture - press release
"Even the new techniques used to identify anthrax in the environment are unlikely to yield positive answers as to how the disease ended up in the State's south-west border region.
"We'll probably never know the definitive answer to that," said Department of Primary Industries veterinarian Lee Taylor, who has been closely involved in investigating the current anthrax cases. "That's just the nature of the disease we're dealing with."
The January 9 outbreak, the first in the State since 1993, affected two properties - at Dirranbandi and Wandoan. It triggered a preventive program in which 1020 head of cattle were vaccinated and temporary quarantine restrictions placed on stock movements from them.
Dr Taylor said newly implemented laboratory technology had been used in the current outbreak to find anthrax spores in the soil around animal remains long past their traditional pathological use-by time.
As to how and why the outbreak happened, knowledge of the disease and its history in Australia pointed to possibilities, he said.
"In this outbreak, tracebacks have confirmed that anthrax was not introduced through recent cattle or sheep movements from interstate or any other means. It has most likely been in the soils of that area for a long time. An animal could have died there years ago and the spores from where it died may have only recently become available to livestock."
He said most anthrax cases recorded in Australia were seen in what was known as the anthrax belt of New South Wales and Victoria. Conditions in these areas favoured survival of anthrax spores in the soil. The soil pH was alkaline and the soils prone to flooding.
"Anthrax tends to occur along waterways and their associated floodplains during the summer months in this area. The infection can be released from soil in areas where animals died many years ago, possibly by earthworks or other soil disturbance.
To Be contiuned

continued
"Extremes of rainfall, either too much or too little, can set off outbreaks by either releasing spores in the soil, or concentrating stock around water and supplementary feeding points where they ingest the bacterial spores in soil that is accidentally consumed."
Dr Taylor said the property at Dirranbandi, where the current events, started had a lot of these factors present.
"Another interesting feature is the presence of an old stock route through the property. Travelling stock was the way anthrax was spread after it was first introduced to Australia in the mid-1800s. In this case, there is nothing to suggest that the problem was related to stock deaths on the stock route."
He said the Wandoan cattle initially diagnosed with anthrax were agisted on the Dirranbandi property for a period of time during 2001. Just before leaving the property, they were fed some hay on the ground and most likely picked up anthrax spores from soil contaminating the feed. Three cattle died before leaving the Dirranbandi property.
"Based on positive soil tests at the site of the carcase, it is reasonable to conclude that these cattle had anthrax. Other cattle exposed to anthrax subsequently died after movement back to their home property at Wandoan in December 2001.
"There is a time period between when cattle or sheep ingest anthrax spores and when they die from the disease - usually around four to 10 days. This explains how anthrax got from Dirranbandi to Wandoan."
Dr Taylor said during this "incubation" phase anthrax did not present a risk to other animals or humans. It was after an animal died that it was possible for the disease to spread to other animals.
He said the considerable media and public interest in anthrax was fanned by concerns about human health and recent bioterrorist activities. However, anthrax was certainly not new in Australia. It had a long history in the country, being first recognised in 1847 near Sydney.
to be continued

*In a global sense OJD is only a recent problem in Australia. In every country with significant sheep or goat flocks OJD is present.

Indeed a recent international conference on the disease concluded that no country had provided evidence of being OJD free.

Overseas policy tends these days to concentrate on managing the disease, largely through vaccines, rather than getting rid of it.

“Several countries have tried to eradicate Ovine Johne's Disease and none have succeeded and some have tried extraordinarily high level eradication techniques such as Iceland actually removed every sheep from the country -- destocked the country, then restocked it and they've still got Ovine Johne’s Disease,” Andrew Vizard said.*

http://www.abc.net.au/landline/stories/s212407.htm

End of story Dickie. Your IQ must be 71 :)

Hi all
PALE, I absolutely agree with you on two counts - you breed them, you care for them. And a quick painless death here has got to be better than putting the unfortunate animals on the ships.

The fact that they are orphaned does not negate their right to proper care and attention to welfare (BTW, why are they orphaned?). Nor does their relative value. You don't have to be a farmer to have those expectations, although they are standards that apparently escape farmers entirely.

Would it not have made sense to call the veterinarian to help the sheep before it died rather than pay for a post-mortem? Not the best logic there.

Rojo, intelligence is not the primary issue, the capacity to suffer, and sentience are the issues.

Yabby, if you carry out your own intravenous procedures, why can you not carry euthanasia medication? Simply because it's cheaper to knock them on the head?

Cheers
Nicky

*BTW, why are they orphaned?*

Because mommy is either very stupid or does not care. Not all mommies
are the same. That is nature for you.

*Would it not have made sense to call the veterinarian to help the sheep before it died rather than pay for a post-mortem? Not the best logic there.*

Extremely good logic, if you are not ignorant about the facts and
shouting from the cheap seats. Why an animal is crook matters, so
sometimes we have to chop em open to find out, as in this case.
That way we learn something, for the benefit of the rest. By the
way, the vets cut their throats, when they do an autopsy.

*why can you not carry euthanasia medication?*

Because it is illegal, they think that farmers or others might
top themselves with it. I then ask why its ok for vets to top
themselves with it, which they can't answer :)

If you want animal welfare, don't deny farmers the products that they
need, which is the case right now.

Ah my dear retarded Yabby. We're not interested in your red herrings which you clumsily hurl at us when your back's to the wall.

It is more than likely that many nations, battling the frightening global epidemics, now raging in farmed animals, have been the recipients of many contagious pathogens from Australia, carried in by live exports. Your very own live export industry has advised us they send off diseased animals to other countries.

However, importing countries have objected to Australian export standards in the past. Many have refused to accept our cattle which have been injected with hormone growth promotants.

Countries have refused to accept chicks due to Newcastle Disease.

South Africa rejected Australia's TB "Free" status. Smart country SA eh? Chile refused to accept Australian animals injected with live vaccines. ......the list is endless.

In the meantime, whilst many recipient countries demand a reasonable degree of quality assurance from Australia, (with fingers crossed no doubt) we must ask: "What the devil are Australians consuming?"

Diseased animals in Australia are sent to abattoirs for slaughter. The survivors (many still diseased) are pumped full of drugs and vaccines - live and otherwise. Then we eat them.

BTW, Yabby. I see the link you provided revealed another farmer who thinks he's above the law. He, no doubt was a large contributor to the spread of Johne's Disease:

"Graham Privett, has been prosecuted, convicted and last month sentenced, ensnared in a controversial public policy that's deeply divided farming and scientific communities.

"Mr. Privett's crime was not handing over to the Department of Agriculture all the names of those who'd bought his rams - a breach of the 1923 Stock Diseases Act."

The deception continues below when Mike Norton, WA Farmers Federation President (Meat Section) appeared sufficiently retarded to believe the public would swallow his spin about WA's JD "free" status:

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/wa/content/2006/s1686202.htm

So what's happened to your repetitious brag about Australia's "clean and green" image Yabby? Time for you to liaise with your cruel connections eh?

Now back to that IQ assessment....... !