Los Angeles Equestrian Center. PC: wikimedia commons
A horse owner violated the state quarantine measures last week at the Los Angles Equestrian Center when they removed a horse from the premises who was confirmed and symptomatic with EHV-1. The owner trailered the horse to an offsite home, and that site is now also under quarantine measures.
Horses at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center have been under quarantine since a horse tested positive there on November 3 and was euthanized for his symptoms. The equine disease control center has been monitoring horses, symptoms and exposure and biosecurity at the facility since then, and for over several weeks, a eleven additional horses began showing symptoms. Those horses were moved to isolation and continued to receive treatment.
The barns from which the horses originated were all under quarantine, a total of four barns at LAEQ and several dozen horses. From the 15th to the 22nd of November, no new EHV-1 cases manifested at the center, and it was looking good that the quarantine could be lifted in early December. But on the 23rd, the new horse was discovered and the owner moved the horse offsite.
According to the Equine Disease Control Center, they plan to pursue prosecution of the quarantine violation “to the full extent of our quarantine laws.”
California quarantine laws for equines state that any person who knowingly violates a quarantine is civilly liable for fees associated with the violation up to $25,000, and is subject to a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail. [CA code on Animal Quarantine]
You can read the EDCC’s full statements and get updates here. [EquineDiseaseCC.org]