February 6, 2013

Yetserday the Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 1280 which prohibits competitions in fox or coyote pens. This will affect foxhound field trials that use such enclosures for their sport. The bill also limits the number of dogs allowed in an enclosure to no more than five per acre. The bill does not curtail the use of pens as training enclosures by individuals or hunt clubs. Click for more information as published by Virginia’s Legislative Information System. Posted February 6, 2013

Two farms in New Jersey—one in Gladstone, the other in Pompton Plains—are under quarantine for exposure to the neurologic form of equine herpes virus-1. A horse from the Gladstone farm that had attended a horse show in Newburgh, New York tested positive to the virus. After tracing the movements of the infected horse, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture determined that eleven horses in that state had been exposed. None, however, have tested positive. The infected horse is being treated and is said to be recovering at a veterinary quarantine facility Oldwick, New Jersey. Horses in New York State, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania have or may have been exposed, but none have tested positive as yet. The two Connecticut horses are in quarantine. For more details, see Megan Brincks’ January 25, 2013 article in The Chronicle of the Horse. Posted February 6, 2013