[Jacob-list] UK Vets: "slaughter sheep"

[Thomas Simmons]

THURSDAY APRIL 19 2001 

Vets in revolt over 'needless slaughter' 

BY TIM REID 

VETS yesterday accused the Government of needlessly slaughtering thousands of 
cattle out of stubbornness, and gave warning that Devon was on the verge of 
“civil war” over the official handling of the foot-and-mouth outbreak. 
A network of vets in Devon has written to the Ministry of Agriculture, 
Fisheries and Food fiercely opposing both the culling policy and the proposed 
vaccination programme. 

“We have been telling MAFF that it has been pursuing the wrong policy since 
the start of the outbreak,” Wendy Vere, who runs a practice near Crediton, 
said. “It is verging on civil war in Devon. All the Devon vets I have spoken 
to are feeling mutinous.” 

The letter, written by Roger Cunningham, a Devon vet drafted in by MAFF as a 
temporary veterinary inspector, represents 50 vets in practices covering 90 
per cent of the area in the county actively affected by the disease. 

They say they have been calling for a fundamental change in the policy of 
culling cattle on farms neighbouring infected herds, known as “contiguous” 
culling. They want all the resources now devoted to slaughtering cattle on 
contiguous farms to be devoted to culling sheep. The vets argue that if sheep 
roaming fields were killed quickly, cattle in winter barns could simply be 
monitored for signs of the disease. 

“Many thousands of cattle are being needlessly slaughtered,” Mr Cunningham 
said. “But our pleas have fallen on deaf ears.” 

The letter is blunt in its appraisal of the Government’s current policy. “An 
almost universal sentiment among farmers is ‘Please take the sheep and save 
the cattle’. Current policy is achieving neither.” It adds: “MAFF is trying 
to carry out a ‘textbook’ eradication of FMD which is failing at present. It 
is important to reassess how policies are working on the ground and have the 
courage and conviction to change them as the situation develops.” 

Andrew Cobner, who runs a 21-strong practice in Holsworthy said: “The policy 
MAFF is following is a nonsense because the cattle on a contiguous farm may 
be up to two kilometres away from an infected premises, and therefore not in 
imminent danger of becoming infected. It’s the distress this unnecessary 
culling of cattle is causing farmers that is most upsetting to the vets.” 

Mrs Vere, whose practice is near Crediton, added: “Every vet here is 
horrified by the ministry’s handling of FMD. This policy is farcical.” 

A MAFF spokesman said: “We have received the letter. It has been discussed 
with Mr Cunningham and will be raised at at an internal MAFF meeting 
tomorrow. We will not comment until after that.” 



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