there were a plane load of horses that went unchecked:-
(An Article by Caryl Williamson)
A plane carrying five stallions from Japan to Australia did not get checked by quarantine officers in Sydney because it had come via Melbourne even though customs officers were still required to clear the passengers.
The August 8 flight also arrived in Sydney without one of the horses expected at the livestock transfer area after it was offloaded in Melbourne, the inquiry into Australia's equine influenza outbreak was told on Tuesday.
Customs officer Gianna Bucciarelli said when she went to process the passengers she asked an officer from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) if they were heading to the same plane.
"I explained to them that there were five grooms on board that had not been cleared for customs and immigration, and the AQIS officer responded that they weren't required to board that flight because it was a domestic flight from Melbourne," Bucciarelli said.
The veterinary officer in charge of the AQIS livestock transfer facility, Dr Yan Hee Song, said there were health certificates for five horses at the airport but only four arrived.
"I was told the plane had landed in Melbourne and told head office there were only four horses," Dr Yan said.
The four horses which did arrive in Sydney were Coolmore stallion Rock Of Gibraltar, Snitzel (Arrowfield Stud), Grandera (Darley Australia) and Stravinsky who is owned by Coolmore but normally stands the southern hemisphere season at New Zealand's Cambridge Stud.
Black Hawk, who stands at Eliza Park in Victoria, was the horse which remained in Melbourne.
Earlier Dr Yan said there was little control over how many people could access the international stallions when they arrived at Sydney airport.
He said his primary concern was with the offloading of the horses from the air stalls and subsequent loading onto trucks for transportation to the Eastern Creek quarantine centre and he carried out those duties in a corral area.
He said he had no knowledge what happened outside the corral and whether or not people such as the horses' owners had boarded the aircraft before coming to his area.
He said the shipping agents were aware of regulations regarding biosecurity such as wearing overalls or showering before they came in contact with other horses and he relied on them to carry out the protocols.
However, he said he did not know whether the other people in the area had touched the horses when they boarded the planes.
Tony Meagher, counsel assisting the inquiry which is being conducted by retired High Court judge Ian Callinan, showed Dr Yan documents relating to the shipment of the horses from Japan which noted discrepancies in the place of pre-export quarantine for one and the date of vaccination for another.
Dr Yan said the discrepancy regarding vaccination had been noted at the NSW office when the documentation was sent there for checking and referred to AQIS head office in Canberra.
He said that corral was hosed down after the horses left for Eastern Creek and he himself had several sets of overalls which were laundered and gumboots which were disinfected.
The first case of EI in Australia was confirmed in a stallion at Eastern Creek on August 17, the same day racing was halted in Japan due to an outbreak of the virus.
Racehorses in Japan are vaccinated against EI, minimising the damage to the racing industry which was shut down for a week while it has been three months since any metropolitan meetings have been conducted in Sydney or Brisbane.
... and the rest is HISTORY.
Helen.
(An Article by Caryl Williamson)
A plane carrying five stallions from Japan to Australia did not get checked by quarantine officers in Sydney because it had come via Melbourne even though customs officers were still required to clear the passengers.
The August 8 flight also arrived in Sydney without one of the horses expected at the livestock transfer area after it was offloaded in Melbourne, the inquiry into Australia's equine influenza outbreak was told on Tuesday.
Customs officer Gianna Bucciarelli said when she went to process the passengers she asked an officer from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) if they were heading to the same plane.
"I explained to them that there were five grooms on board that had not been cleared for customs and immigration, and the AQIS officer responded that they weren't required to board that flight because it was a domestic flight from Melbourne," Bucciarelli said.
The veterinary officer in charge of the AQIS livestock transfer facility, Dr Yan Hee Song, said there were health certificates for five horses at the airport but only four arrived.
"I was told the plane had landed in Melbourne and told head office there were only four horses," Dr Yan said.
The four horses which did arrive in Sydney were Coolmore stallion Rock Of Gibraltar, Snitzel (Arrowfield Stud), Grandera (Darley Australia) and Stravinsky who is owned by Coolmore but normally stands the southern hemisphere season at New Zealand's Cambridge Stud.
Black Hawk, who stands at Eliza Park in Victoria, was the horse which remained in Melbourne.
Earlier Dr Yan said there was little control over how many people could access the international stallions when they arrived at Sydney airport.
He said his primary concern was with the offloading of the horses from the air stalls and subsequent loading onto trucks for transportation to the Eastern Creek quarantine centre and he carried out those duties in a corral area.
He said he had no knowledge what happened outside the corral and whether or not people such as the horses' owners had boarded the aircraft before coming to his area.
He said the shipping agents were aware of regulations regarding biosecurity such as wearing overalls or showering before they came in contact with other horses and he relied on them to carry out the protocols.
However, he said he did not know whether the other people in the area had touched the horses when they boarded the planes.
Tony Meagher, counsel assisting the inquiry which is being conducted by retired High Court judge Ian Callinan, showed Dr Yan documents relating to the shipment of the horses from Japan which noted discrepancies in the place of pre-export quarantine for one and the date of vaccination for another.
Dr Yan said the discrepancy regarding vaccination had been noted at the NSW office when the documentation was sent there for checking and referred to AQIS head office in Canberra.
He said that corral was hosed down after the horses left for Eastern Creek and he himself had several sets of overalls which were laundered and gumboots which were disinfected.
The first case of EI in Australia was confirmed in a stallion at Eastern Creek on August 17, the same day racing was halted in Japan due to an outbreak of the virus.
Racehorses in Japan are vaccinated against EI, minimising the damage to the racing industry which was shut down for a week while it has been three months since any metropolitan meetings have been conducted in Sydney or Brisbane.
... and the rest is HISTORY.
Helen.
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