What is an emergency animal disease?

Emergency Animal Diseases include serious diseases which originate in other countries (exotic diseases) as well as some which arise within Australia. Regardless of the source, all emergency animal diseases are of concern because they have the potential to seriously affect or devastate the Australian economy.

Losses result from international exports being decreased or terminated, loss of employment and long term changes to the integrity and value of animal industries within Australia.

Australia's Defence Against Emergency Animal Diseases

Within Australia there are three defences against exotic diseases. The first is Border Protection. This mainly involves the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS), an arm of the Commonwealth Government. An important AQIS program, called 'Quarantine Matters', is aimed at Australia's air and sea ports, encouraging Australians and overseas travellers, migrants and importers to observe Australia's quarantine regulations.

The second line of defence is Post-Border Monitoring and Surveillance, which includes auditing and checking by Animal Health and Food Hygiene authorities as well as the public. Examples of this activity include, auditing the ban on swill feeding of pigs and the restrictions on feeding of cattle and sheep and other ruminants within Australia. "Swill" is food (scraps) that contain material derived from a placental mammal. Such material is not permitted to be fed to livestock unless it is rendered to the Australian standard. However, even if it is rendered it must not be fed to ruminants such as cattle, sheep, goats and deer. Rendered products of this kind have been implicated as the cause of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease and unrendered swill was implicated as the cause of the foot and mouth disease outbreak in the United Kingdom in 2001.

The final line of defence is the Post-Border Response. This comes into affect once an outbreak has been confirmed. The response is governed by the Australian Veterinary Emergency Plan (AUSVETPLAN) which is a nationally agreed, coordinated emergency response plan for veterinary authorities to combat an outbreak anywhere in Australia.

What Can I Do?

Community assistance is another important aspect in effectively managing emergency animal diseases. State disease control authorities involved in the response to such emergencies depend on people in the community and livestock industries to report unusual activities. This diligence will only occur when everyone concerned completely understands the implications that animal diseases could have on the Australian economy and those within the industry (especially our farmers). This is why early detection is vital.

Anyone working or in contact with animals on a regular basis should immediately report any unusual signs, behaviour or unexplained deaths or illness to the nearest private veterinary practitioner, government veterinary officer or stock inspector.

The following are examples of signs that require immediate reporting:

• Unusually high numbers of animal deaths or serious illness
• Ulcers, erosions or blisters around feet and/or mouth
• Strange nervous signs
• Acute gastrointestinal symptoms (diarrhoea) or respiratory symptoms

Emergency Animal Disease Hotlines

Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline
1800 675 888
(a free phone service for members of the public, veterinarians and livestock producers, to report any unusual disease signs in animals.)

Custom Watch
1800 06 1800
(a confidential free Hotline for customs - related illegal activities)

Fishwatch
1800 065 522