Foot and Mouth

Carrie,
I am so sorry you and others in the UK are still struggling with the problem of foot and mouth disease. :eek: Thank you so much for keeping the rest of the world up to date about this terrible situation. We will keep you and your country in prayer.
All of us should be more aware of the limitations of the press (natural or self-imposed) in keeping people worldwide informed of important news. Gone are the days (if they ever existed!) when we could simply accept as worthwhile and complete the things we read in the papers or saw on TV. Now more than ever, we need to think through everything that we read and view, and teach our children to do the same.

MAFF - Ministery for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was relinquished of responsibilties several weeks ago due the handling of Foot and Mouth. The new agency is DEFRA - Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

As far as I can tell this means the official enquiries can put all the blame on MAFF for almost anything and then say that it's all sorted because a "NEW" agency has control. (This is my own opinion and funnily enough it is not endorsed by any Government department!)

New cases continue to appear, between two and six every day, journalists continue to ignore the misery and the real issues and complain about compensation payments, when the whole situation is not being ignored.

Friends of my sister, who live in Somerset and had all their stock culled about six months ago, have been told..off the record and very quietly by someone from the, now obselete, ministry, not to even think of buying in stock until, at the soonest, next summer.

I enjoy crop circles - I don't know or care how they get there, I just enjoy looking at them because they are so mathematically and artisitically fascinating to me. Anyone who doesn't know, the majority of crop circles are found in England. It's been a few months since I visited any crop circle websites. I did yesterday, and was struck by how many reports this summer have no picture, only the picture of the red hoof and mouth quarantine sign, or how many have the warning "this circle has not been investigated because it is not accessible due to foot and mouth restriction".

Very sadly the whole countryside shut down, places that people couldn't imagine being affected were suddenly out of bounds.

The latest news is that the European Commision is to pay £224 million as a starter payment until the whole cost is known. This is to the UK alone - Holland will get £24.7 million and France and Ireland smaller amounts.
It is now estimated that before this financial year is out the cost of secondary clean up (making farms safe to be restocked) will be at least £3 billion!!!
Ummm....wonder what the papers will make of this....

The RSPCA has again, along with other animal welfare organisations, expressed concern about animals, especially sheep, caught in restricted zones as grazing depletes as we head toward Autumn.

Carrie I am so sorry that this out-of-control nightmare is still plaguing your country. I wish there was something I... or anyone, for that matter... could do to stop it. I guess all I can offer are my prayers, and I hope they help. My prayers and thoughts are with you and everyone else that this horrible disease has hurt.

Tom Robinson is a hill farmer in Lancanshire and has a flock of pedigree Swaledale, Dalesbred and Lonk breeding ewes. He wrote to one of the national papers to try and highlight the fact that for many farmers the Foot and Mouth crisis is getting worse, not better. Here is some of his letter;

As a hill farmer who's been living on the edge of foot and mouth disease since the start, our problems are just starting to escalate with the onset of autumn and what would of been our busy sales period.

While we understand the need for movement restrictions, we and others like us are at our wits' end over what to do.

We shall struggle to move any of our animals this year, affecting our farming enterprise for many years to come. Movement restrictions mean that our farm will carry an unsustainable 50 per cent more stock through the winter. This will lead to a major problem in spring when there's scarcely any grass for the animals.

The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 1,971.

[ August 24, 2001: Message edited by: carrie ]

My favorite author, James Herriott, was a vet in the Yorkshire Dales from the 30's. He wrote several books about his experiences. Some of the stories that stand out after decades of reading his books are the foot and mouth horror stories - how farms, in the family for centuries, and even entire villages, could be wiped out in a season. All it took was one case, and mandatory slaughters and quarantines would mean financial ruin. It's too bad that, with all the medical and scientific advances made since the 30's, the grim outlook has not changed a bit for the foot and mouth situation.

A third case has been confirmed in Northumberland.

Three more cases in Northumberland bringing the total, in an area that has been clean for nearly three months, to six.

Do they know where the new cases are coming from? Have infected animals been brought in, somehow, or is it just reappearing from the ground or something?

Awful awful, awful.

The first three can all be connected to the same market but as yet they have not established if this is a new infection or disease that has been overlooked or underlying in sheep showing no symptoms. It seems this will never end.

The Red Cross called me on Wednesday...seems they needed some of my type of blood. I went in Thursday morning to let them "take" it :eek: and one of the questions, for the first time ever, was whether I had recently visited the UK! Surely this was because of the Foot and Mouth...you think?

Carrie, I am just so very sorry that this whole thing can't be stopped. It has been so horrible for your country and others.

This is cetainly to prevent any possible risk of FMD. Your blood would not carry the disease but you may carry it on clothes, skin or hair. I imagine this is more an excersise in public peace of mind rather than containing any real disease risk.

There are now eight confirmed cases in Northumberland with two more "highly suspicious" cases being investigated.
Hexham market has now been ruled out as the source of infection so that remains a mystery.

Northumberland has just confirmed their eleventh case!