It was in mid-October when a red flag was raised that a horse in the RM of Estevan had tested positive for rabies.
Without any means of curing the horse, it was swiftly culled from its herd, and the matter was assigned to Saskatchewan’s rabies risk assessment veterinarian, Clarence Bischop. Without knowing exactly how the horse was infected and whether rabies may have been spread further, the other horses in the pasture were placed into quarantine.
In an interview last week, Bischop didn’t say exactly how many horses were currently under quarantine but noted it was “just a few.” The spread of rabies from large animals like horses or cows to others in the herd is rare, but the quarantine is in effect nonetheless.
The horses will remain in quarantine from anywhere between 40 and 60 days, which Bischop said is typical for animals of that size. A horse may not begin to exhibit symptoms for up to six weeks following exposure.
Though it was unclear exactly how the horse contracted rabies, Bischop noted it is likely the horse was bitten by a skunk, which is the most common animal in southeast Saskatchewan to carry the disease that is transmitted through the saliva.
During that time, he said the owner will monitor the horses’ behavior and is responsible for reporting any potential symptoms.
Because the disease will impact an animal’s behaviour, Bischop said owners are perhaps the best equipped to identify those changes in behaviour that could be a result of a rabies infection.
“(The owner) is asked to keep an eye on them. If they are working animals, like horses, then they may be able to use them but use precautions, avoid exposure to saliva and look at the horse before you get on it,” said Bischop.
He said like any other animal, a horse’s symptoms may start with some behavior that’s out of the ordinary. In horses those changes tend to make them dull and they may become weak.
Between January and August this year there have been seven other rabies cases reported. Four of those involved bats and three cases were found in skunks. Though it is rare, there was one case involving a rabid horse in both 2012 and 2011.
As far as the current quarantine, the horses haven’t been moved anywhere and will continue to be monitored by their owner.
“In an ideal world, they’re separated and people keep an eye on them. Certainly, when you have a few horses it’s easier to do that compared to 500 cows or something,” said Bischop.
“With large animals we tend to leave them where they are. If they’re on a pasture, well, then nothing else is getting exposed, so that’s generally the terms of large animal quarantine. They don’t have to be confined within a building.”
