Foot-and-mouth scare officially over

The foot-and-mouth scare is effectively over after a second letter confirmed it was a hoax.

Emergency response measures on Waiheke Island - where the virus was alleged to have been released - will be scaled back from today.

Police say the second letter, which was sent to a newspaper, had strong similarities to the original letter sent to Prime Minister Helen Clark's office last Tuesday.

The letter said claims made last week were a hoax and that no foot-and-mouth virus had been released.

Agriculture Jim Sutton said the second letter and the fact that surveillance had found no sign of the disease meant the legal restrictions covering the movement of animals and goods off Waiheke Island could be removed.

But Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry officials would continue low level monitoring on the Island until next Monday.

"This scare has caused tremendous inconvenience and stress for farmers who have been barred from moving stock off the island at a time when feed is short, and who have had to get their stock into yards to be regularly tested by vets and field technicians."

Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Marshall said a forensic examination of the letters would continue so they could be certain they were from the same author.

Mr Marshall said police also would continue their investigation to find and prosecute the author - who could face seven years in jail.

Food Safety Authority executive director Andrew McKenzie said New Zealand's trading partners would be immediately informed of the developments.

The scare - that lasted almost a week and had consequences with New Zealand's international trading partners - started when a letter was sent to the Prime Minister which claimed the disease had been deliberately released on Waiheke island.

The letter sought money and a change in the country's tax policies, and threatened another release of the disease elsewhere.

The author had threatened to to spread the disease by feeding livestock hay which had been infected by the virus through a vial.

While the police and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry believed the letter was most likely a hoax, they had no option but to treat the threat to the country's $10 billion agricultural industry seriously.

There was speculation that the letter had been a Massey University capping joke.