Napalm 'flame-thrower' plan for slaughtered foot-and-mouth animals

LONDON - Britain may deploy napalm flame-throwers - infamously used during the Vietnam war - as an emergency measure to help to destroy the carcasses of condemned animals affected by the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) have requested details of a successful test in the United States of a "domestic" version of napalm - less explosive than the military kind - used in the destruction of cattle infected with anthrax.

Maff is keeping the option open because of local shortages of the timber railway sleepers used for animal pyres and the difficulty of transporting them, and the large amounts of coal needed to burn with them, to remote areas of the countryside.

Scientists have found that the napalm flame-throwers, loaded on the back of a small truck, generate higher temperatures than wood and coal pyres and are faster and more efficient at burning carcasses.

Officials have requested the information on the American experiment from Ron Anderson, a veterinary official with the Nevada state agriculture service, who used a "terror torch" loaded with domestic napalm to get rid of more than a dozen cattle carcasses infected with deadly anthrax spores.

"The terror torch is like a mini flame thrower only it doesn't throw a flame, it first dispenses a gel on the carcass and then it is set on fire with an electric igniter when you think you've got enough fuel on it," Anderson said.

"It has a low flash point so that when you ignite it, it doesn't flame in the way it does when you throw a match into a gasoline can. The heat is pretty good because we were able to burn a 1000lb animal in around an hour. With conventional funeral pyres it takes several hours," he said.

The domestic napalm is a mixture of 60 per cent diesel, 40 per cent petrol and a substance called firegel, which is a powdered aluminium-based soap which thickens the mix and makes it stick to the carcass.

Cattle carcasses are particularly difficult to burn because much of their intestines are filled with water. Sheep also pose problems because their woollen coat acts as a flame retardant. Some pyres have been burning for days in an attempt to reduce the animals to ash.

Anderson said that the terror torches come in various sizes and they would be particularly effective on sheep carcasses.

"This would be ideal for small animals. It's really excellent and far better than using wood and coal. The whole carcass burns, the gel keeps it all together. It's very much more efficient," he said.

An Maff official said that the information on the napalm experiment has been passed on to the relevant authorities.

"It's something we might consider in the future if we need to.

"We're not using it at the moment as an option, but that does not mean to say that we will not use it in the future if fuel supplies become critical," he said.

Meanwhile, emergency plans are being drawn up to bury millions of slaughtered animals in giant rubbish dumps.

After scouring the country for landfills which could safely take the carcasses, the Environment Agency has sent a list of some 15 sites to Maff.

Disused airstrips in Cumbria, the county worst hit by the disaster, are being earmarked for the slaughter of up to 300,000 animals.

A military logistics team is working to making the killing more efficient as Jim Scudamore, the chief vet, yesterday gave the order for a nationwide cull of all livestock on land neighbouring infected farms.

Yesterday, 537 cases of the disease had been confirmed in the UK. More than 320,000 animals have so far been killed.

A fourth case has been confirmed in the Netherlands and a second in France since Friday.

- INDEPENDENT

Herald Online feature: Foot-and-mouth disaster

UK outbreak map

World organisation for animal health

UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

The European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Pig Health/Foot and Mouth feature

Virus databases online