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Foot-and-Mouth Disease Confirmed in the Netherlands
Far from being contained, the foot-and-mouth disease that has devastated cattle herds in Britain gained ground on the European continent, with the Netherlands on Wednesday confirming its first cases.
The announcement by the Dutch agriculture minister that four contaminated cows were detected Wednesday, and the near certainty that hundreds of goats had been infected, quashed hopes that the feared livestock disease could be bottled up in a small corner of France, the only other place in continental Europe where it has been identified.
The European Union in Brussels quickly imposed a ban on livestock exports from the Netherlands and on exports of meat, daily and animal products from four Dutch provinces unless they are treated to ensure they cannot be carrying the disease.
Gunshots from the rifles of government veterinarians rang out across snowy fields at a northeastern farm where dozens of animals were killed after coming into contact with infected animals. Police set up roadblocks to isolate the farm near Oosterwolde and two others 12 miles east, near the villages of Olst and Oene, where the disease was detected.
About 17,000 animals were to be destroyed in farms within a 1,000-yard radius of the three farms, the Agriculture Ministry said.
The setback in the Netherlands came after the French Agriculture Ministry said Tuesday that 224 herds had been tested but no new cases had been reported since last week, when six farms were put under quarantine.
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