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One of the department’s most important tasks was to guard against outbreaks of infectious disease — and with such a large number of horses coming together in Hong Kong from different countries and continents within such a short timeframe, this was also one of its most difficult tasks.
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AFCD staff monitoring temperature-taking at the quarantine stables.
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As AFCD’s Assistant Director (Inspection & Quarantine), Thomas Sit Hon-chung explained that the staff had a lot of interaction with the teams from different countries and since they were all keen to win medals in the Olympics, sometimes the atmosphere could be very competitive and tense. “For example, we received a complaint from one team member that a horse kept next to his horse coughed at night and was not being properly attended by the team veterinarian,” Dr Sit said. “However, upon our investigation, the team being accused of having a coughing horse claimed that the complainant’s horse’s coughing had induced his horse to cough! We examined both horses and found that both had chronic respiratory symptoms, but neither was infectious in nature.”
Infectious disease kept at bay
It is of great credit to the department that despite the hiccups, and despite the fact that there were literally hundreds of horses to monitor, no infectious disease was reported among Olympic or Paralympic horses during their entire stay in Hong Kong. Dr Sit put this down to meticulous planning. “Good planning is crucial to smooth operations,” he said. “Adequate time should be reserved for the negotiations with other veterinary authorities on import/export protocols.” He said that while some flexibility was allowed, Hong Kong’s high standard of equine health status could not be compromised.
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