Over the Gate

Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
http://www.thisisthelakedistrict.co.uk

From: ...

Originally from the Westmorland Gazette –

Over the Gate by Jeff Swift

" IF SOMEONE had asked me what was the main difference between the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 1967 and the one in 2001, I would have said the burying of most of the carcasses in quicklime in '67 as opposed to all the burning that went on this time.

But I now see I would have been wrong.

A recent report I read claimed that, in the earlier outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, more than 90 per cent of animals culled actually did have the disease – whereas in 2001 more than 90 per cent of the animals slaughtered did not.

What an incredible waste! That has to be the main difference between the two outbreaks.

Incidentally there was a query as to how many of the half-million carcasses buried at Great Orton Airfield actually had foot-and-mouth disease.

I understand a spokesman said: "NONE".

Talk about unbelievable; that lends credibility to the acceptance that over 90 per cent of animals culled out did not have the disease.

Where does the responsibility lie? But, hang on, this is 2002 and no one accepts responsibility anymore.

It gets worse.

Since I started writing this piece yet more information has come to me which is in the public domain and is to do with evidence put before the European Union Enquiry by Scientists, some of whom are recognised world experts in foot-and-mouth disease.

Professor Fred Brown of Plum Island, USA, arguably the world's number one expert on foot-and-mouth disease told the inquiry that vaccination would have reduced the number of animals slaughtered because it would have "reduced the amount of virus around and would have bought time." Then comes the crunch, Professor Brown went on to say: "The barbaric conduct in Britain last year was a disgrace to humanity."

Alex Donaldson, who was a member of the Cabinet Office Committee of Government advisers that proposed the cull policy, had earlier supported this policy, but now distances himself from it saying: "There was no justification for the 3km or the contiguous cull, which were both novel and untested, once the resources were available to go back to traditional culling and disease control methods".

I began with a question, so I'll end with one.

Heaven forbid we ever have to experience another outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease but, if it happened, would I wish the same people nationally and locally to handle it again? Answer: not blooming likely.

Dialect word: Jip meaning pain

Thought for the Day: If you want a stable job then work with horses.