News

“IMMEDIATE VACCINATION NOW ONLY OPTION FOR UPLANDS’ FUTURE”

4th April 2001

The Moorland Association, which represents the owners of over three quarters of a million acres of England’s upland areas, has concluded that large-scale vaccination against Foot and Mouth, will be the only way to protect the future of the uplands. It recommends that animals be vaccinated as a matter of urgency, along with a massively accelerated cull and disposal of infected livestock, in a bid to prevent the spread of the disease into the ecologically sensitive Pennine uplands and North York Moors.

Explains Sir Anthony Milbank, the Moorland Association’s chairman: “We have reached this conclusion with some reluctance, as there will be significant economic impact on our farmers. This, however, must be weighed against the devastating prospect of a total cull of hill sheep in these upland areas, should the disease spread further out from the Lake District, North Yorkshire and County Durham. As there are few physical boundaries on the moors and the sheep are ‘hefted’ to the land, we are talking, potentially, about some far-reaching and devastating consequences of allowing any further spread.

“These include the very real possibility of the total cessation of an upland sheep farming economy that is already in crisis – and the consequent ability of upland farmers and owners to manage these environments for the benefit of rare and endangered wildlife. We are additionally facing the spectre of near eradication of important and rare sheep breeds such as the Swaledale and Herdwick sheep, as well as the Rough Fell and Dalesbred”, he warned.
The Moorland Association has taken advice from the Elm Farm Research Centre (*) in reaching its conclusions. Its case was recently presented to government, and it weighs up a number of the key economic and scientific factors that would be associated with large scale vaccination. Emergency vaccination is an approved method of the control of Foot and Mouth disease in Europe. Crucially, Elm Farm has concluded that vaccination is possible without necessarily culling vaccinated animals, due to the development of tests that can distinguish between animals with the disease and those which have been vaccinated against it. Furthermore, the return to free FMD status, for export purposes, would be achieved, at the latest, 12 months after the last case of the disease had been diagnosed.

The Moorland Association recommends that the mechanisms of implementing vaccination, along with culling and disposal of infected animals, would need to completely ‘ring-fence’ the North’s upland areas to adequately prevent the spread of the disease. It is calling for the vaccination process to start immediately.