On 14 June 2006, Clive, a thoroughbred gelding, died an agonizing death. It was a death that would mark the beginning of an emotional nightmare for his owner, Jennifer Crane and her family. A death that would receive national media coverage as only the sixth recorded case in Australia and would result in an independent Queensland Parliamentary Review. Unknown to Jennifer, the large colony of flying foxes, camped in the neighbouring forest and spilling over onto her property in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, had brought with it the deadly Hendra virus that infected her horse and put her own life at risk. Jennifer’s account of the death of her horse due to the Hendra virus portrays the pain of losing a beloved member of the family, her encounter with Queensland’s biosecurity procedures and a decision to try to increase the awareness of the fatal consequences when the balance of nature is tipped.
