UK sees end to foot-and-mouth

More than 3,000 animals will be culled following the latest case in the Netherlands

LONDON, England -- Britain's foot-and-mouth crisis appears to have peaked, the government's chief scientist has said.

Professor David King said data showed that the disease which has devastated the livestock industry is finally flattening out.

His comments came as industry officials said thousands of British farmers have already left their jobs and many more will be forced to quit because of the crisis.

Britain announced on Wednesday plans to ease some livestock movement restrictions -- imposed to contain the spread of the highly infectious virus -- to allow more farmers to get their animals to market.

"We can be reasonably optimistic that we have passed the worst," King said. "The flattening out of the epidemic has now been confirmed and the data even show a possible downward trend since the end of March."

UK media reports said a leaked report, drafted for Prime Minister Tony Blair, showed farmers had taken part in hundreds of unlicensed livestock movements since the start of the outbreak.

One farmer accused of moving animals without a licence in breach of foot-and-mouth regulations had been warned by police to leave the area for his own safety, the reports said.

But the chairman of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) in Devon, David Hill, said he would rather people broke the law by moving animals than let them suffer and die in confinement.

Hill said he "could not condemn" farmers who moved animals illegally rather than see them dying in appalling conditions.

"I would rather they did that than let animals suffer," he said.

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Elsewhere in Europe, there was less encouraging news with authorities in The Netherlands confirming a 22nd case -- the first outside the small area where previous cases have been detected.

In Northern Ireland, authorities said they had found a suspected case of the disease among cattle at a farm in the heart of the province's farming country.

If proven, it would be the province's second infection.

But despite the cautious optimism in the UK, tourism was still suffering.

The English Tourism Council said its members were facing a grim Easter holiday, with hotel bookings down 20 percent and some guest houses reporting total cancellations.

It said the British Tourist Authority, which focuses on foreign visitors, had calculated a loss to the national coffers of up to £2.5 billion ($4.25 billion) if it took to the end of the year to eradicate the disease.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Dutch Agriculture Ministry
European Union
England Tourist Board
Foot-and-mouth disease
UK Ministry of Defence
National Farmers' Union

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