UK sees no end to foot-and-mouth

These newborn lambs will be slaughtered in the mass cull

LONDON, England -- The British government has admitted it has no idea when the country's foot-and-mouth crisis will end.

The admission came as the number of confirmed cases in the UK topped 300 on Sunday.

Britain's Chief Veterinary Officer Jim Scudamore said that while the disease was "contained," he could not predict when it would be eradicated.

"I think is going to take a long time," he told BBC television.

Economists have warned the outbreak is likely to cost the UK nine billion pounds ($13 billion) in terms of lost earnings for the agriculture and tourism industries.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has reiterated the need for a mass slaughter of apparently healthy animals to try to halt the spread of the virus, despite protests from many farmers.

Brown insisted the government was doing all it could to stamp out the disease, but asked how long that might take, he said: "I cannot say."

He appealed to farmers to accept that a mass cull was vital to stop the spread of the virus, which is harmless to humans, but destroys the economic value of livestock.

The plan calls for the slaughter of healthy sheep and pigs within three kilometres (two miles) of infected sites in the worst-affected areas of Cumbria, in northern England, and southern Scotland.

The government put the idea on hold on Saturday, as opposition mounted. It said the cull would not begin until the scientific reasons behind it had been explained to the farmers concerned, a process that will start on Monday.

Sheep carcasses are loaded onto a pyre

However, around 1,800 sheep, showing no signs of the disease, were slaughtered on two Scottish farms, in Morayshire and Aberdeenshire, which had links to an infected market.

"The idea of taking out the animals that are potentially infected before the disease emerges is designed to get this to a conclusion as swiftly as possible," Brown told Sky television.

He insisted the cull would go ahead, despite the protests.

Some farmers in Cumbria have threatened to barricade themselves onto their land and stand before the slaughterman's gun to stop their stock being killed.

David Handley of the pressure group Farmers for Action said the government was "making a complete and utter shambles" of trying to tackle the disease. He warned that Brown should not expect farmers "just to stand back and watch their animals being destroyed."

The outbreak is a huge blow to the British farming industry, which is only just recovering from mad cow disease.

With much of the British countryside effectively a no-go zone, tourism is suffering too -- to the tune of 250 million pounds ($360 million) a week, according to officials.

Sporting events, such as horse racing and rugby union, have been disrupted since the disease was first spotted last month.

The Irish government even cancelled St Patrick's Day celebrations which were expected to attract around a million people to Dublin amid fears the influx of tourists could spread the disease.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Mass livestock slaughter on hold
March 17, 2001
Burning livestock necessary evil of foot and mouth outbreak
March 16, 2001
EU: U.S. meat ban 'over-reaction'
March 16, 2001
Virus cancels Irish party
March 16, 2001
Foot-and-mouth hits France
March 13, 2001

UK Ministry of Agriculture
Foot-and-Mouth Disease
World Organisation for Animal Health

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