Zoos take steps to ensure animals are safe from foot and mouth
Melbourne Zoo has put additional measures in place to help ensure their animals stay protected from a recent foot and mouth disease outbreak in Indonesia which is threatening to impact Australia.
There have been no domestic outbreaks reported as yet and Australia’s borders are remaining open, despite a push by the opposition to close them.
The zoo said that the risk of transmission to their animals was extremely low, but they were announcing a series of protocol changes.
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As well as limiting some paths through enclosures and animal encounters, people who have recently visited Indonesia are being asked to wait 48 hours before visiting the zoo and people who live with any livestock – except horses – are being asked to avoid visiting the zoo altogether.
“We have put in place some containment protocols to help ensure our animals are safe and that this risk remains low,” correspondence sent to zoo members this week read.
Calls to shut the border are damaging Australia’s agricultural reputation, at a time when the evidence suggests existing biosecurity measures are doing their job, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt says.
