One million lambs to the foot-and-mouth slaughter

11:15 am - By NIGEL MORRIS, BEN RUSSELL and STEVE BOGGAN

LONDON - More than one million sheep, pigs and cows will have to be slaughtered if the British Government is to have any chance of containing the foot-and-mouth crisis, Britain's National Farmers' Union said this morning (NZT).

As farmers braced themselves for an unprecedented cull of livestock, mostly sheep, the Government has warned that hundreds of farms in a huge swathe of land from Cumbria in northern England into southern Scotland will be cleared of all livestock susceptible to the virus.

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, sanctioned the move after he met farmers' leaders in Downing Street on Tuesday when they told him he faced the "most difficult decision" he would ever have to take.

Mass culls will eliminate any flock in contact with the three markets at the centre of the outbreak. Animals linked to two of the largest livestock dealers in Britain will also be killed.

Nick Brown, Britain's Minister of Agriculture, said at least 150,000 animals could be put down. But, privately, farmers' leaders said the toll would be far higher.

A senior official of the British NFU said: "The number of animals involved could be phenomenal. It is open-ended. Even one million could turn out to be a conservative estimate."

Ben Gill, president of the NFU, said: "There will be many tears around the British countryside today. Our farms should be starting to jump to life with new-born lambs and calves. Instead, many will feel that Spring has been cancelled and their farms are simply dead."

The new cull, dwarfing the slaughter of livestock during the 1967 outbreak, will pose massive logistical problems for farmers, vets and slaughterhouses, and would take up to four weeks.

Hundreds of thousands of animals in the Borders face slaughter. Powys alone, the Welsh county which ministers fear is about to become the latest foot-and-mouth hotspot, is home to an estimated one million sheep.

In an emergency statement to MPs, Mr Brown said the slaughter would cover five categories of animals.

All livestock within three kilometres of infected farms in Cumbria, northern England and Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland will be slaughtered as a precaution.

The Scottish Executive estimated 200,000 sheep would have to be put down on its side of the border. Animals in contact with sheep which passed through the Welshpool, Northampton and Longtown markets before restrictions will be destroyed, a move which could doom 100,000 creatures.

Those animals which have been in contact with livestock sold by two major dealers in Devon and Herefordshire, in England will also be culled.

More animals free of foot-and-mouth could be slaughtered to avoid health problems. They include sheep and cows about to give birth and pigs awaiting sale on overcrowded farms. In Devon, southern England vets will patrol an exclusion zone around the infected farms to ensure the disease does not spread.

But restrictions in areas with no cases, such as East Anglia, the Scottish Highlands and west Wales, could be eased by the end of next week if they remain disease-free. Efforts will also be made to revive the beleaguered tourist industry in those areas.

Mr Brown said: "This is a policy of safety first. We are intensifying the slaughter of animals at risk in the areas of the country – thankfully still limited – where the disease has spread."

Eight new cases were confirmed yesterday, bringing the total number to 241. A total of 161,000 animals have been slaughtered, with 64,000 waiting.

Jim Scudamore, Britain's chief veterinary officer, said the disease had initially been transmitted by animal movements through markets, but drastic action was needed to stop it spreading from farm to farm, moving down valleys because it moved on the wheels of vehicles and the boots of workers.

"The problem in Cumbria is we have big farms with lots of sheep," he said. "The disease is spreading from farm to farm and is even jumping farms. We don't know exactly why it is spreading but it is spreading and we have to stop it."

But there is still strong opposition to the slaughter. Some farmers are in almost open revolt. At Kirkoswold, in the shadow of the Pennines, in northern England sheep farmer Maurice Bowman warned that the plans would force many to the point of breaking. "You can only push people so far," he said. "I don't want to kill my animals."

And more pressure was put on Mr Blair yesterday to postpone the local authority elections on 3 May, and, by extension, the general election pencilled in for the same day.

Tory leader William Hague is expected to table a formal request next week for a delay until the disease is brought under control.

- 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