FOOT AND MOUTH
DISEASE - KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
Animal Health Act
foot-and-mouth.Section
31, Schedule 3, Paragraph 3 sub-paragraph 3(1) reads as follows:
"The Minister may, if he thinks fit, in any case cause to
be slaughtered -
(a) any animals affected with foot-and-mouth disease, or suspected
of being
so affected; and
(b) any animals which are or have been in the same field, shed,
or other
place, or in the same herd or flock, or otherwise in contact with
animals
affected with foot and mouth disease, or which appear to the Minister
to
have been in any way exposed to the infection of foot-and-mouth
disease."
Please note.........This is a closely confined
power, carefully drafted. It does not create any power to slaughter
healthy animals, three kilometers away, on a "firebreak"
basis, or because they happen to be on a holding contiguous to
one where an outbreak has been confirmed. It is based on the likelihood
of the animal already having been exposed, not on the
possibility of its being exposed in the future.
DEFRA inspectors
only have legal powers to enter premises which have or are suspected
to have a notifiable disease i.e. FMD.
The grounds
for 'reasonable suspicion' are that the animals have been in contact
either directly or indirectly (i.e. adjacent to), with animals
that are proved to have contracted the disease and are therefore
'dangerous contacts'.
If the above
is NOT the case then the DEFRA or their agents can only enter
your premises with your express permission. Otherwise they
are committing 'trespass' and if any locks etc. are damaged then
this is 'criminal damage' and should be reported as such.
There
is no firewall policy of slaughtering healthy animals. DEFRA only
have authority to slaughter those animals that they can reasonably
suspect as :likely to have been exposed to the virus.
FOOT AND MOUTH
VACCINATION -
Control
of FMD This will usually
involve intensive national or regional vaccination campaigns using
approved vaccines under government control. In
exceptional cases the incidence of the disease might be
sufficiently low , that a slaughter policy might be introduced
in the first instance. Source:Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Return of exports
: Without vaccination : No outbreaks for at least 12 months
Return of exports
: With vaccination ; No outbreaks of FMD recorded for at least
two years
CARRIER
ANIMALS 1. Infected animals can be distinguished
from vaccinated animals by a simple test of their blood. 2.
If a vaccinated animal becomes infected it can be identified by
test. 3. If the animals in 2. become infected and then
become carrier animals it is extremely unlikely that they would
pass on the virus to other animals.Many attempts to infect naive
animals by bringing them into contact with carrier animals have
failed. There is, as far as I know, just one reported case. Prof
Fred Brown, United States Department of Agriculture, Plum Island
Animal Disease Center..........PLEASE
VISIT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES FOR MORE INFORMATION...... ...http://website.lineone.net/~cullmaff/
...........www.fmdaction.i12.com.........www.sheepdrove.com ..............www.warmwell.com