An indefinite ban has been placed on race meetings at the Cape following the discovery of another case of horse sickness near Stellenbosch.
The new case follows the outbreak at Elsenburg Agricultural College near Stellenbosch, where five horses died at the weekend.
Western Cape provincial minister of agriculture Johan Gelderblom said on Friday morning that as a result of an intensive survey conducted after the Elsenburg outbreak, the new case was discovered about 16km west of the college.
The animal died soon after acute symptoms of the disease were observed, and the diagnosis was confirmed on Friday morning at the provincial veterinary laboratory.
The new case made additional control measures urgently necessary, and also confirmed the suspicion that the disease was brought into the area from somewhere else.
These measures include a total ban on moving horses to and from the horse-sickness-free area in the Cape Town metropole, and in and out of the 100km surveillance zone.
In addition there is now a total ban, until further notice, on any horse-related gatherings in the free and surveillance zones.
It is compulsory to report any suspected case to the state veterinarian in the Boland, on Tel: 083 642 0602, any private vet, or the police.
Horses should also be stabled from two hours before sunset to two hours after sunrise, and treated daily with an insect repellent.
Horses in a 20km radius of Elsenburg will be inoculated.
Gelderblom said the situation will be monitored, and the ban will not be maintained any longer than necessary.
”There ought to be more clarity by Wednesday next week over the extent and spreading of the sickness,” he said.
Horses that already have the sickness should be showing clear symptoms by then. — Sapa