The Village Pump 05 August 22

Page 1

VILLAGE PUMP

The Samford Progress Association’s free community newspaper printed continuously since 1977.

The

@TheVillagePumpSamford

“Your Community Newspaper, owned by the Samford Community and produced for the benefit of the Samford Community.” 05 AUGUST, 2022

P: 0477 663 696

E: editor@villagepump.org.au NEXT DEADLINE THURSDAY 11/08/2022

WARNING: FOOT AND MOUTH ON OUR DOORSTEP For over 130 years, Australia has been free of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease, which affects all clovenfooted animals (‘split hooves’), such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, alpacas, llamas, deer, camels and buffalo. The disease is now on our doorstep, with confirmed cases in Indonesia and the popular tourist destination of Bali. The risk or ‘estimate of likelihood’ of FMD entering Australia is currently at 12% and if it does, it will have catastrophic economic and social implications for our country - and our local community. According to Dr Malcolm Heath of UQVets at Dayboro, the most likely location of an outbreak of FMD disease will not be out west on a large cattle station. It will be a peri-urban area like Samford or Dayboro. Someone will unwittingly bring back a contaminated meat product from their overseas holiday. If the scraps from that contaminated product are thrown to an animal, then we have FMD. A veterinarian and large animal expert, Dr Heath and his wife Jane, also a veterinarian, were in the United

Kingdom during the FMD outbreak of 2001 and know only too well the horrors of the disease and the impact that it can have on all involved. He is genuinely concerned about FMD and its consequences for our community. He strongly recommends that people refrain from feeding food scrapes to cloven-footed animals, especially pigs, and especially scrapes that contain meat products. This includes illegally imported/ incorrectly prepared sausage, ham, salami and other meat products which might be in a sandwich. “Thrown to pigs or other susceptible animals, it would be an easy way to get FMD started in our country,” said Dr Heath. For an agricultural trading nation such as Australia, FMD would have a significant impact on our economy, estimated at $80

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billion. A FMD outbreak would also result in devastating social consequences. The widespread loss of income for our farmers and others that work in the agricultural sector and related industries would be significant, as would the psychological trauma associated with the FMD control measures that would be mandatorily implemented. If one animal is detected with the disease, it would instigate the culling and euthanasia of all cloven-footed animals located both on the infected property, and on suspect properties within a wide designated geographical area. According to the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the Honourable Murray Watt, the absolute number one priority is to keep FMD out of Australia. Every person that owns cloven-footed animals must: • have a bio-security plan in place, irrespective of the size of the property or the number of animals; • be aware of the clinical signs of FMD; • diligently monitor their animals on a daily basis; and • immediately report any concerns to their local Vet and contact the Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888. Continued Page 3


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