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Letters CVO Question Time at BVA Congress at the London Vet Show last month. It was clear that Defra can only take action if there is enough evidence to justify doing so. We would encourage members to report any concerns about carriers as well as illegal imports and, of course, suspected rabies cases. The BVA will continue to monitor the situation and take members’ concerns directly to Defra. Please keep us updated via the BVA community at www.bva.co.uk/community Robin Hargreaves, BVA President, 7 Mansfield Street, London W1G 9NQ doi: 10.1136/vr.f7237

BOVINE TB

Implementing risk-based trading DEFRA has been working with the livestock industry and in consultation with our colleagues in Wales on ways in which cattle buyers can be helped to make more informed decisions at markets – what we have termed risk-based trading. The introduction of new animals into a herd is a well-known route by which bovine TB can quickly spread. In the low-risk areas of England, the large majority of sporadic outbreaks we see are traced back to bought-in cattle. The buyers of new animals have historically not been offered TB information about the animal(s) before buying at markets and, therefore, have not been alerted or assisted in their responsibility to properly manage the TB risk that new animals pose to their herd. Similar proposals are currently being considered in Wales, and the Welsh Government will inform interested parties once a final decision has been taken. Risk-based trading is a national scheme that is about providing buyers with information on the TB history of cattle they are looking to buy. This enables buyers to make more informed choices and reduce the risk of TB infection being brought into their herd. It is a voluntary scheme, so depends on sellers providing information; auctions making it available at (and ideally before) sales; and buyers acting on it. The Government has made it clear that if the voluntary approach does not work it will look again at regulatory options. Risk-based trading was in evidence for the first time at Chelford Market in Cheshire on Saturday, November 9. Sellers were asked to provide information on the date of the animal’s last premovement test; the date of his/her last routine herd test; and, if the herd had ever had a TB breakdown, the date it achieved Officially TB-Free (OTF) status following the breakdown. At all auction markets we now want to see this information

included in booking-in forms and displayed at ringside for buyers’ information. The date of the animal’s last premovement test will indicate whether the animal has been in an annual testing area or a four-yearly testing area – which may not always be obvious. It is not unusual for animals to move from an annual testing area into a four-yearly testing area before being offered for resale, so the testing interval of the herd of origin alone may not be a good indicator of the overall risk of the animal(s). The date of the seller’s last herd test will enable buyers to consider whether a postmovement test may be useful, particularly if some time has passed since then. The date the herd of origin achieved OTF status (if the herd has ever had a TB breakdown), will enable buyers to consider the risk profile of herds within the same testing area, which can vary greatly. It is important to remember that 40 per cent of herds in the annual testing area have not had a confirmed TB breakdown for at least 10 years. An animal from a herd that has been OTF for five or 10 years is likely to be less of a risk than one from a herd that has been OTF for a matter of weeks or months, irrespective of whether it is from a high-risk area. So risk-based trading will help sellers

with a good health record in a high-risk area and will help buyers to differentiate between the two. However, we don’t want to see OTF herds which have suffered a breakdown in recent months or years going unsold – we simply want to see buyers taking sensible precautions consistent with the risk to their business, to that of the area in which they farm and potentially also to their neighbours. We want to see risk-based trading used to inform private sales as well as at markets. The veterinary profession has a part to play. The dates providing the relevant information on TB history can be found on the testing certificate and what is known as the TB10 form. So there should be no good reason for sellers not making at least this basic information available. I would urge veterinary surgeons to discuss with their clients the decisions they make when buying animals and encourage them to request TB history before buying, as well as having postbuying plans in place, such as isolation and/ or postmovement testing. In January 2013, the industry-led RiskBased Trading Group recommended that crucial TB risk information about cattle be shared at the point of sale. In the longerterm, we hope to see the introduction of an

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Letters electronic tool that could access information held in existing databases. This work is being led by an industry working group supported by Defra and in consultation with the Welsh Government. Nigel Gibbens, Chief Veterinary Officer, Defra, Nobel House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR e-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1136/vr.f7222

EXOTICS

Keeping exotic pets THE ownership of ‘exotic’ pets has grown dramatically in recent years and that growth continues. Exotic pets in this context refers to non-indigenous amphibian, reptile, bird and small mammal species, including small primates (and is usually taken to exclude fish and some or all of the common small aviary birds such as canaries and budgerigars, falconry birds, the common ‘small furries’ such as guinea pigs, hamsters and gerbils, and larger mammals including SouthAmerican camelids). Veterinary surgeons dealing with exotic species are not only seeing greater numbers of the common exotic pets such as Mediterranean tortoises, bearded dragons, leopard gekkos, corn snakes, pythons and psittacine birds, but a much greater diversity of species, many of which only a few years ago were rarely or never kept as pets in the UK. Some keepers of these species are knowledgeable and responsible, and provide suitable husbandry; many others are not knowledgeable and do not provide suitable husbandry, resulting in illness and suffering, often over long periods and frequently unrecognised by their owners for much of that time. Even for knowledgeable, responsible owners, because the precise requirements for the health and wellbeing of these animals are not always known, some of these species are difficult to keep well in the UK, particularly in an indoor environment, those animals having evolved to live in very different environments and eat different diets from those provided by their keepers in the UK. Veterinary surgeons dealing with exotic pets see these husbandry-related problems on a daily basis, particularly in reptiles and psittacine birds, and it is likely that many more of these ill pets never see a veterinary surgeon. Furthermore, the welfare problems of these animals are sometimes compounded by the fact that many veterinary surgeons do not have sufficient knowledge and experience to deal with the problems of many of these species, a deficiency that will persist because teaching 558 | Veterinary Record | December 7, 2013

in UK veterinary schools has largely failed to change to reflect changes in the make-up of the owned animal population. Some of these animals are bred in the UK or the EU for the pet trade; others are imported, having been bred or wild-caught outside the EU. Just as there are better and worse pet keepers, there are better and worse breeders, importers and suppliers of these species. Overall, however, there can be no doubt that both the keeping of such pets, and the activities of those providing the animals, result in huge amounts of illness and suffering of many thousands of these animals. This is well recognised by those veterinary surgeons dealing with exotic pets on a regular basis and, in our opinion, is one of the major animal welfare problems in the UK today. However, this welfare issue still has a low profile among the UK veterinary profession as a whole. Fortunately, this issue has a higher profile in some other EU countries. As reported in Veterinary Record (November 30, 2013, vol 173, p 512), the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) has expressed support for the principle of so-called ‘suitability lists’, specifying the wild animals and exotic species that may or not be kept by private individuals as pets (ie, excluding zoos, research institutions, etc). Several EU countries already have ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ lists of those species that can or cannot be kept by private individuals. It is ridiculous that, while it has long been illegal in the UK for private individuals to keep almost any of the indigenous vertebrate wildlife species as pets, private individuals can legally keep as pets any of the large majority of vertebrate wildlife species indigenous to any other country. Current legislation that limits the vertebrate species that can be imported, traded and/ or kept as pets, including CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and the Destructive Imported Animals Act (1932), exclude only a very small proportion of exotic species from being kept as pets. In the UK today anybody, no matter how inexperienced or ignorant of how to care for an animal, can buy such an animal from a pet shop or over the internet, often on impulse and frequently to the detriment of that animal. This should not be the case and these animals should have legal protection. For the sake of animal health and welfare, it is time that the veterinary profession called upon the Government to change the law in such a way as to restrict the nonindigenous species that can be kept as pets (thereby also limiting the animals that will be imported for the pet trade) and to improve the welfare of those exotic animals that are kept as pets. The creation of a positive list, as recommended by the FVE, specifying those non-indigenous species that can be kept as pets, would be an excellent start.

Martin Whitehead, Chipping Norton Veterinary Hospital, Albion Street, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire OX7 5BN e-mail: [email protected] Neil Forbes, Great Western Exotic Vets, Vets Now Referral Hospital, 10 Berkshire House, County Park Estate, Shrivenham Road, Swindon, Wiltshire SN1 2NR e-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1136/vr.f7212

LANGUAGE

Grammatical exactitude I COULD not agree more with T. W. Brodrick (VR, November 30, 2013, vol 173, p 532) regarding his irritation over the use of incorrect classical grammar in the veterinary literature. The misuse of Greek and Latin terms is endemic in my chosen discipline of ophthalmology and does as much to confuse as to clarify. Indeed, a number of Greekderived ophthalmic nouns have become so distorted over the years as to have somehow developed Latin suffixes. Take, for example, the term distichiasis (from the Greek root ‘di’ – two and ‘stichos’ – row). This perfectly acceptable description for ‘extra eyelashes’ has, over the years, inexplicably evolved the faux-Latin suffixes ‘-ium’ and ‘-a’ to denote single and plural (distichium, distichia). In fact the term ‘distichiasis’ could and should be used for both. Does this really matter? Probably not. Mind you, the benefits of a classical education may also spill over into other aspects of one’s life. The other morning my three-year-old son requested an extra breakfast helping, and after only a very brief classical tutorial was able to ask with confidence for two Weetabices (or is it Weetebitides?). Strangely enough, the following morning he was back on Alpen. David Gould, Davies Veterinary Specialists, Manor Farm Business Park, Higham Gobion, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG5 3HR e-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1136/vr.f7214

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Implementing risk-based trading Nigel Gibbens Veterinary Record 2013 173: 557-558

doi: 10.1136/vr.f7222 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/173/22/557

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