The entire West district has now been announced a 'controlled' area for the next three months, i.e. all animal movement to and from the district is banned.
A month ahead of the Republic Day and five days after the surfacing of Glanders disease in equines in West Delhi, the Delhi government's Animal Husbandry Department confirmed on Tuesday that it has asked Ministry of Defence, the President's Bodyguard, and the Delhi Police to get their horses checked.
As many as 10 samples from horses in West Delhi were sent for testing and seven of them tested positive for the disease. Glanders is a life-threatening equine disease that affects both the animal and its owner. It is a scheduled disease under the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009. Till date, it is known to have killed over 200 horses in the country.
The entire West district has now been announced a 'controlled' area for the next three months, i.e. all animal movement to and from the district is banned.
Soon after the news of the disease came to the fore, divisional commissioner Manisha Saxena announced that samples from all horses will be taken in the next 10 days. The sampling started at various veterinary hospitals in the city on Friday and over 700 samples have already been collected since then.
"The seven positive cases have been in confinement since then and will be culled and buried on Wednesday, as per norms," Saxena said.
"As many as 200 Delhi Police horses, 500 Army and the President's guard's horses will be tested. The samples will be sent to the National Research Centre on Equines in Hisar, the only certified government laboratory for glanders testing in the country. Every horse in the city will be sampled in the next 10 days. Surveillance will not stop till each horse in Delhi has been sampled," said Dr Jitendra Kumar Gaur, Director, Animal Husbandry, Delhi government.
According to the officials, there are nearly 3,000 horses in the city.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "DNA")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}