- The foot and mouth epidemic appeared in danger of racing
out of control yesterday, despite assurances from Nick Brown, the Agriculture
Minister, that the virus had been "contained".
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- In his most downbeat assessment of the crisis, Jim Scudamore,
the Chief Veterinary Officer, raised the spectre of a mounting catastrophe.
He said that the disease was spreading from sheep into cattle, which had
a greater ability to generate and disperse the virus.
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- He said: "The disease is going to last a long time."
As 11 new outbreaks took the total to 107, the National Farmers' Union
admitted: "We must hope for the best but assume the worst." Many
farmers said they feared for their spring lambs. Some have already died.
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- Refusing to forecast when the epidemic might be beaten,
Mr Scudamore said: "I will not give you any predictions. We will not
see an end to the disease by the end of this week." With almost 90,000
cattle, sheep, pigs and goats culled or about to be destroyed, vigilance
would be needed for weeks to come, he said.
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- He appealed to all farmers who may have traded sheep
on the fringes of Longtown market, near Carlisle, Cumbria, on Feb 15 and
22 to contact the Ministry of Agriculture urgently.
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- It is known that Longtown was heavily infected. The largest
cluster of cases has been linked to sheep traded there. Farmers are believed
to have sold sheep without putting them through the sale ring and these
are proving difficult to trace.
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- Mr Scudamore said there was a danger of the disease passing
unnoticed in sheep, which show fewer symptoms, and of it passing to cattle.
With lambing under way, he urged farmers to look out for signs of the disease.
These could include an abnormally high death rate in lambs and abortions
in ewes.
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- Other classical symptoms are lameness and listlessness.
Some new-born lambs had also died of heart failure caused by the disease,
he said, prompting fears that many thousands more could perish if the virus
takes hold in breeding flocks.
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- So far the Ministry of Agriculture has maintained that
it has been contained mainly to relatively restricted batches of sheep
traded for slaughter. However, the National Sheep Association said it believed
the virus had penetrated breeding flocks - possibly among sheep roaming
hills and moors.
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- David Smith, chairman, said: "It is an absolute
disaster the way it has spread around the country. We are very concerned."
Ben Gill, the NFU president, said: "Farmers must understand the importance
of reporting any unusual symptoms. Sheep farmers must be particularly careful
when checking their animals as the disease does not show itself as easily
in the sheep population."
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- Earlier in the Commons, Mr Brown, making a statement
on the outbreak, patted the despatch box as if "touching wood".
He told MPs: "The next few days will be crucial. The fact that there
have been so many outbreaks is unwelcome.
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- "But the good news is that each and every case traces
back to the original outbreak, and it looks as if the timely imposition
of movement controls has worked and that we have been able to contain the
disease to what was already incubating in the national herd and flock.
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- "That is how it seems today. The situation may change."
Mr Brown said a farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, was still considered
the primary source of the outbreak. It was known that the disease had already
spread among animals traded through markets but added: "It is impossible
to say where it has gone."
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- The admission, as outbreaks spread among cattle, that
Government vets have been unable to trace an unknown number of sheep which
passed through a focal point of infection sent a chill through farming.
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- It suggested that foot and mouth could remain for months.
Downing Street played down suggestions that the disease's spread would
force a delay of the May 3 local elections in England.
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