Originally from: Ron
                        
Just to remind you again, these are the real Figures.

Ron.

----- Original Message -----
From: ...

Originally from: "Another Old Codger" <...>
To: "Foot and Mouth Group" <...>
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2002 1:09 PM
Subject: News from 20–01–2002

Sunday Post 20–01–2002

Slaughter toll three times official figures. By
Craig Robertson

BRITAIN is now free of foot and mouth, but the
cost
in terms of livestock is far greater than the
Government has previously admitted.
Our investigation has revealed the number of
animals slaughtered was nearly three times the
figure released by the Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

The Department has now admitted they neglected to
count MILLIONS of sheep and cattle.

DEFRA say four million animals were culled.
However, the Meat and Livestock Commission has
confirmed that nearly 11 million animals were
slaughtered in the cull.

The Government's official figure records sheep and
cattle killed on the 2030 farms which were struck
by foot and mouth plus the 5000 neighbouring farms
cleansed in precautionary culls.
However the number does not include beasts killed
through the welfare, disposal scheme, the light
lamb disposal plan or, crucially, those lambs -and
calves killed with their mothers.

Jane Connor, chief economist of the Meat and
Livestock Commission, says that a conservative
estimate of 1.2 offspring per breeding sheep
culled would mean four million lambs were killed
but not accounted for.
Lambs "at foot" of sheep marked for slaughter were
also killed but the official tally would only
record one animal. The same procedure operated for
culled cattle.
Similarly, there were 595,000 cattle culled but
the official figures don't include the 100,000
calves killed with them or the 50,000 calves close
to birth.
The Welfare Disposal Scheme – set up to cull
animals that could not be moved because of
restrictions accounted for another 1.6 million
sheep and lambs, 169,000 cattle and 288,000 pigs.
Another half million light lambs were culled
because there was no longer a market for them.
None of these is included in the Government's
total. .
Jane Connor says, "We will never know exactly how
many were culled but it was many more than the
official figure."
A spokesman for DEFRA initially insisted the
number of sheep and livestock culled included
offspring killed- with them However, after being
told that MLC said otherwise, they -checked their
figures.
The press officer returned to admit, "I stand
corrected on that one. It- -seems it is standard
practice – to count ewes and offspring as one
animal. Your information is correct."

The final toll was at least -10,849,000 animals
killed.

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