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From: "KNowak5170@..." <KNowak5170@...>
To: NAIS_Equine@yahoogroups.com; naisfromtheshorsesmouth@yahoogroups.com; Americans_Against_NAIS@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 11:32:21 AM
Subject: [naisfromtheshorsesmouth] Authorities seek two diseased horses taken illegally from area stable under quar


This is just GREAT - idiots just gave Vilsack a HUGE reason to mandate NAIS
sooner rather than later!  Stupid, STUPID people!
Karen
From the KCStar Today

_http://www.kansascihttp://www.http://www.kanhttp_
(http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/1260237.html)

Authorities seek two diseased horses taken illegally  from area stable
under quarantine

State and federal authorities are  looking for two diseased horses that
were taken illegally while quarantined at a  Raytown stable.

Officials say someone cut padlocks on the building doors  and stalls at the
Raytown Equestrian Park, 9400 E. 63rd St., sometime Wednesday  night. They
took two of seven horses that had tested positive for a blood-borne  disease
called equine piroplasmosis.

"Although this disease is not easily  transmittable and does not affect
humans, it is a disease that through ticks and  contaminated needles can have a
great impact on our horse industry," Jon Hagler,  director of the Missouri
Department of Agriculture, said in  statement.

The department is working with local officials and the FBI to  locate the
missing horses, which are microchipped.

The five other horses  at the stable that had tested positive for the
disease were euthanized Thursday  with the consent of the owners.

All 64 horses at the Raytown stable had  been quarantined since June 6.

The origin of the infection is  unknown.

Equine piroplasmosis was officially eradicated from the U.S. in  the 1980s.
But there was an outbreak last year in Florida that resulted in 20  horses
being euthanized. According to a report on TheHorse.com, an equine health 
care site, investigators determined that the diseased horses in Florida were 
closely linked to two horses that entered the state from Mexico.

The U.S.  has screened all imported horses for equine piroplasmosis for
nearly 30 years,  according to the Web site. But the testing can result in
false  negatives.

The disease is characterized by fever, anemia, weight loss and  jaundice,
and can be fatal. It can also affect mules, donkeys and  zebras.