Phoenix the calf spared from foot-and-mouth cull

LONDON - Phoenix, the 13-day-old calf, has been reprieved. While hundreds of thousands of smouldering or rotting carcasses litter the countryside, Downing St has announced that Britain's new favourite cuddly animal will be spared from the cull.

The white heifer earned her name because of a remarkable escape when she was overlooked as the rest of her Devon herd was killed.

She lay next to her dead mother on Clarence Farm, near Axminster, for five days, and was found only when officials revisited to disinfect.

Her survival has become a matter of national importance, provoking questions in the Commons and forcing the Government to obtain a court order to kill her.

Finally, Downing St announced the change in plans. A spokeswoman said there would be an announcement about changes to the slaughter policy in some areas. "As a result, Phoenix will be able to live," she said.

The calf's mother was one of 15 cattle slaughtered with 30 sheep to create a firebreak around a confirmed foot-and-mouth farm.

There is no evidence that Phoenix has the disease but the Agriculture Ministry had wanted her dead.

A National Farmers Union spokesman said the furore "makes King Herod look like a humanitarian."

- INDEPENDENT

Herald Online feature: Foot-and-mouth disaster

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