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Britain to Kill All Livestock Near Foot-and-Mouth Sites
Britain will kill nearly all livestock on farms near to foot-and-mouth infection sites, Agriculture Minister Nick Brown announced Saturday.
The agriculture ministry made an official but informal policy on slaughtering pigs, sheep and cows on farms neighboring those infected with the virus, said Brown.
The decision was made one day after scientists said the foot- and-mouth disease was out of control in Britain and predicted that the case total, now more than 520, could reach 4,000 by June.
Brown said animals on farms next to infected areas were at high risk of contracting, and then spreading, the disease.
He said officials had made some progress in shortening the time between diagnosis of infected animals and their slaughter.
"By getting the discovery-to-slaughter rate down to 24 hours or less, then we can have a significant impact on the disease itself. By pursuing our dangerous contacts policy we can also have a significant impact," said the agriculture minister.
The announcement also came a day after a muddled government message about the possibility of extending the slaughter even more widely, to all livestock within three kilometers of infection sites.
But farmers who have found the decision agonizing are quite strongly against it.
"I have got members living on the edge. They are ringing me in tears," a local report quoted David Hill, National Farmers' Union chairman for Devon, in southwestern England, as saying.
Brown also said he was considering vaccinating some animals, which he has tried to avoid because it would lengthen the time Britain needs to regain its "foot-and-mouth-free" status after the epidemic ends.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair left a European Union summit in Stockholm earlier than expected on Saturday to meet with farmers in Devon, which has been hit hard by the disease. He promised the government would spare no expense in wiping it out.
"This has been a hellish situation. We will do whatever is necessary to get on top of the disease," he said.
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