The government is set to give a last minute reprieve to the thousands of animals under the foot and mouth death sentence today, announcing a unexpected turnaround in its firebreak slaughter policy. At the centre of the country’s relief is Phoenix, a week old white heifer calf who hit the national headlines after surviving a five-day cull on her Devonshire farm.
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Downing Street revealed that the policy, which involved slaughtering all healthy animals within a large radius of infected farms, would be abandoned because it was clear that the crisis is receding. Over the last week, the number of new cases fell below a hundred for the first time in two months, said agriculture minister Nick Brown. This means an average of 16 new cases a day, a stark drop from the high of 43 cases just three weeks ago. David King, chief scientist at the government, commented that the number of new cases would dwindle considerably by the time of the general election (7 June).
The news was welcomed by the National Farmers’ Union. Regional director Anthony Gibson commented on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday that the slaughter policy was a “blunt instrument,” effective in the long term but costly and painful.
“A lot of cattle […] have been slaughtered because of an accident of topography. Phoenix is a very good case in point. That calf is on a farm three miles away from the outbreak farm,” he said.
Phoenix, who was discovered lying in mud next to her dead mother, has become a focus for the horror of the cull across the UK. Ministry of agriculture officials arrived on the farm on Wednesday to cull the calf, and her last minute reprieve has been the focus of much press attention this morning.
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By GlobalDataThe Conservative party responded to the news cautiously. Shadow agriculture minister Tim Yeo commented: “A sudden change in policy will need to be fully explained if confidence in the industry and among the public about the government’s determination to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease is to be maintained.”
“We understand public concern about the slaughter of healthy animals, but we believe at this stage no risk should be taken, and that farms which border those where foot-and-mouth has been confirmed are obviously at high risk of being infected themselves,” he added.
Prime minister Tony Blair stressed that despite the relaxation in the culling policy; the government will not become complacent in its dealings with the foot and mouth virus.
