PLANS TO GET RESTRICTED AREAS MOVING WELCOMED BY
NFU
Plans announced today to allow healthy animals
trapped in foot and mouth restriction zones to go for slaughter will be a
massive help in alleviating the bottleneck of pressure built up in those areas,
says the NFU.
NFU President Ben Gill said the plans to allow farmers not directly affected by
foot and mouth but caught up in the 10km surveillance zones to move their
animals were "good news".
The scheme, set to be up and running by 23 April, will allow animals to move
straight from farms to abattoirs within these zones and from there into the
food chain. Farmers within 3km of a confirmed case will not be able to benefit
from the scheme.
Mr Gill also welcomed the proposals to shrink some of the earliest restriction
zones down to a more exact 10km radius to allow farmers to resume more normal
business.
He said: "Both these announcements today will have many farmers breathing
a sigh of relief. The pressure on farmers in restricted areas has been
intolerable and this will take a bit of the weight off their shoulders.
"Allowing animals to move to slaughter in restricted areas will enable
farmers to earn some desperately needed money from their businesses. But just
as importantly it will enable trapped animals to be moved and alleviate animal
welfare pressures."
Mr Gill stressed that the all the veterinary advice was that this could safely
take place without spreading the disease but that every precaution must still
be taken. It would also further boost the amount of British meat going into the
food chain, he said.
He added: "Whilst this is good news, it does not lessen the need for
urgent improvements to be made to the systems currently in place to deal with
the welfare problem of animals trapped on or away from farms.
"The scheme to slaughter animals for welfare reasons is bursting at the
seams. We have asked for an immediate substantial improvement in the operation
of the scheme and prioritisation of cases at a local level so that the worst
cases can be dealt with first. But this has not yet happened.
"We have also pressed for and received a number of changes to the welfare
movement scheme, including allowing pigs to move from provisionally free areas
to other areas.
"Today's announcements are a very welcome step but it must not be
forgotten that the situation on the ground is still appalling."
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