LOCAL NEWS
By Kieran Nicholson
The Denver Post
The horse stables at Chatfield State Park have been shut down as a precautionary measure relating to a possible outbreak of a viral disease. The stables are closed until laboratory samples, taken from symptomatic horses, are analyzed by a USDA veterinarian.
Officials are checking for the possible presence of vesicular stomatitis (VS), a viral infection that primarily affects horses and cattle, and occasionally swine, sheep, goats, llamas, and alpacas.
“Customers with horses boarded at the stable may continue to enter the facility to provide care, but the horses will not be permitted to leave the facility,” according to a Colorado Parks and Wildlife media release. “The closure will remain in effect pending the results of the tests.”
Test results could take between three and seven days.
The virus was first reported in Boulder County in July, since then 184 locations where the infection has been confirmed have been placed under Colorado Department of Agriculture quarantine. Most of the properties are in Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties. Chatfield State Park straddles the Jefferson and Douglas county line.
As of Wednesday, 201 horses and three cows statewide have tested positive for the disease, which causes painful oral blisters and sores that make it difficult for the animals to eat and drink.