Providing shelter or stables for horses at night is one of the ways to stop your horses getting Hendra Virus, according to District Veterinarian Phil Kemsley.

With one case of the deadly bat-borne virus recorded recently south of Murwillumbah, Phil encourages horse owners to also keep horse feed and water containers covered.

“Don’t place them under trees where they could be contaminated from above,” Phil said.

“But the single most effective means to protect horses and their owners is to vaccinate them against Hendra virus infection.”

North Coast Local Land Services (NCLLS) is this week again urging horse owners to be aware that winter 2020 may provide high-risk conditions for Hendra Virus cases in horses.

NCLLS have been working with BatOneHealth - a global team of experts who have been studying the complex interactions between climate, land use, flying fox ecology, Hendra virus dynamics and the concurrent risk to horses and humans. 

This group has recently advised that Winter 2020 represents a period of heightened risk for Hendra Virus spill over into horse populations.

NCLLS General Manager Louise Orr said the climatic and ecological conditions leading up to Winter 2011 were very similar. 

“In 2011, North Coast Local Land Services staff and local private veterinarians worked with horses on nine affected properties - the largest numbers of horse cases on record,” she said. 

“The BatOneHealth prediction is for similar climatic conditions and the increased possibility of spillover events from flying foxes to horses this year.”

“We all hope that this will not prove to be the case. However, in recent days the first case for this year has occurred on the far north coast.”

District vet Phil said June to October tends to be a higher risk for Hendra infection in horses.

“This could be because in winter feed sources are limited and flying foxes may risk feeding on lower branches, placing them in closer to horses,” he said. 

Hendra virus is a virus carried by flying foxes (who are unaffected by the virus) and can be deadly to both humans and horses. 

It is transmitted from flying fox to horse, via the ingestion by the horse of flying fox bodily fluids most likely dropped from overhead trees contaminating pasture, feed and water troughs.

The infection has occasionally been passed onto people who have been in close contact with an infected horse.

To protect both your horses and you, Phil recommends reducing the risk at the flying fox - horse interface.

Further information is available from NSW DPI and NSW Health.

For more information about vaccinate your horse against Hendra virus, contact your North Coast Local Land Services District Veterinarian on 1300 795 299 or your local vet.