The owner of a horse farm is considering suing state agencies for approving imports of wildlife from Africa, believed to be the source of a disease outbreak that has killed many racehorses in Nakhon Ratchasima.

Uthen Chatphinyo, owner of a racehorse farm in the province, said African Horse Sickness (AHS) has killed 21 of his 160 horses. The dead horses are worth approximately 50 million baht.

Nopphadon Sarobon, the owner of another horse farm, said he had lost 20 horses that he had bred for sale. Each horse was worth 400,000 and 800,000 baht.

The owners and academics yesterday petitioned the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to include AHS in the list of disease outbreaks to be controlled under the Animal Outbreaks Act. The law bans any movements of horses and prohibits the import of zebras and other wildlife species.

Chetthaphong Meksamphan, the former dean of the Faculty of Fisheries at Kasetsart University, said it was important to find out who imported AHS-infected wildlife from Africa which led to the transmission of the disease to local horses.

In February, some zebras were reported to have been resold to buyers in Hua Hin district instead of being re-exported to China, their intended destination. Blood tests revealed that these zebras were infected with AHS.

An investigation discovered that the disease outbreak began on Feb 24 at several farms in Nakhon Ratchasima. As of last Saturday, 154 horses had died.