FIELDS
OF
FIRE
In memory of
the
millions of animals destroyed by the
‘cure’ for Foot and Mouth Disease, 2001
Edited by
Quita
FIELDS
OF FIRE
A
collection of prose and poems
compiled in
memory of the millions
of animals
killed during the
foot and
mouth outbreak in 2001
Edited and
published by Quita
First published
2002
Quita
Laurel
Cottage
Star
Somerset BS25
1QE
Tel: 01934
844353
Printed by The
Favil Press of Kensington
127 South
Street
Lancing
Sussex BN15
8AS
“Cry
the beloved country, these things are not yet at an end. The sun pours down on
the earth, the lovely land that man cannot enjoy; he knows only the fear of his
heart”
- Alan Paton
THE
VET’S OATH
“In
as much as the privilege of membership of the Royal College of Veterinary
Surgeons is about to be conferred upon me I PROMISE AND SOLEMNLY DECLARE that I
will abide in all due loyalty to the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and
will do all in my power to maintain and promote its
interests.
“I
PROMISE above all that I will pursue the work of my profession with uprightness
of conduct and that my constant endeavour will be to ensure the welfare of all
animals committed to my care”.
THE
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY
ON
FMD IN 1968
This
report agreed with the previous Gower Commission on FMD (’52-’54) that, “We
sympathise with the widely expressed view that it (slaughter) is a crude and
primitive way of dealing with the disease.
We recognise the mental anguish it may cause to those who suffer …… the
shattering disaster, not computable in terms of money, that it may bring to a
farmer who has to see the work of a lifetime destroyed in a day”. The report made various points which,
unfortunately, have been mainly ignored in the current
outbreak:
*
it
recommended tranquillising drugs ‘when the need arises’ before
slaughter;
*
it
recommended that ‘burial of carcasses is preferable to burning’;
*
it
mentioned that ‘the consensus of opinion among our scientific witnesses was that
the danger of carrier animals had been exaggerated and that carriers in a
susceptible population did not constitute a significant
risk’;
*
it
stressed, about the Danish ring vaccination at the time, that ‘the importance of
the Danish experience is that no problem has arisen as a result of releasing
cattle from within the vaccinated area and allowing them to mix with susceptible
animals in other parts of Denmark’;
*
it
recommended ‘that contingency plans for the application of ring vaccination
should be kept in constant readiness’ and estimated that ‘if ring vaccination
had begun early, the number of outbreaks might have been reduced to about
half’. The committee considered
that ‘ring vaccination, if introduced, should be carried out as soon as an
outbreak occurs’.
NEW LABOUR – NEW LIFE
FOR ANIMALS
Before
the 1997 election, the Labour Party published, ‘New Labour – new Life for
Animals’. The opening paragraph
stated, “Labour has consistently shown itself as the only party to trust on
issues of animal welfare”.
INTRODUCTION
This book is dedicated to the memory of the millions of animals that have suffered and died, not from foot and mouth disease, but from the cure, during the current foot and mouth epidemic, which started in February, 2001 – and to all the people who have also suffered and have, in some cases, tragically killed themselves. As I write this, the killing fields are still out there and animals are being slaughtered at the rate of 50,000 – 100,000 a week.
This book is a record of some of the letters, poems and other pieces of writing which have emerged over the last few months. These writings are amazing – powerful, heartrending and, often, quite beautiful outpourings of grief, anger and compassion, written from the heart by people whose lives have been touched, directly or indirectly, by foot and mouth disease and its ‘cure’. I believe that, in spite of the sadness and pain, these writings are strong and life affirming and are a tribute to the human spirit. I also believe that they are a savage indictment of government policy.
I belong to a foot and mouth discussion group on the Internet and the writings in this book are taken from some of our messages to each other over the months, or pieces from articles or newspapers or other web sites that we have posted up for the group to read. Contributors to our group include farmers, smallholders, vets, scientists, journalists, teachers, outdoor activity instructors, photographers, playworkers, pilots, toy makers, antique dealers, housewives, bookshop owners, publicans, artists, coach drivers, photographers, to name but a few – a very mixed bag! It has been a group with no leader and no name, with people deciding what they can do to help and others joining in when they can. Members, who come from USA, Canada, Holland, Germany and Australia, as well as the UK, are middle-aged, law-abiding, responsible members of society, most of whom have never protested before against anything in their lives, but who have been driven to speak out against this inhumane, bungling, savage slaughter of animals – this holocaust of 2001.
This group is a phenomenon of the Internet age – knowledge; scientific information; up-to-date reports about which part of the country the latest killing fields are in and a rallying call for help to anyone in that area; legal advice and help packs for farmers; a list of sympathetic solicitors; useful numbers and addresses of MAFF / DEFRA officials, media contacts, MPs, etc, to use in our endless campaigning; and Internet hugs for those who need them – all available at the touch of our fingertips! This has meant that people have ended up with answers to their questions and more knowledge (dare I suggest!) than most MAFF / DEFRA officials.
(MAFF, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, was incorporated into DEFRA, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, after the election in 2001, partly to distract people from the mistakes that MAFF had made).
It should be made clear that, from the start, it was an economic and political decision to cull all the animals, and not a scientific one. In an ideal world, foot and mouth disease would have been allowed to run through the herds and flocks to build up immunity, with relevant treatment and culling only in cases where animals were suffering badly. As a compromise, a combination of vaccinating and allowing the disease to maintain a presence could have been used – or else, perhaps the more popular choice, culling infected animals and ring vaccinating in each relevant area. If this had been done at the start, things would have been back to normal long ago and we would not now be seeing the destruction of farming families, empty fields, rural industries in ruins, pollution of our land through funeral pyres and burial pits – and the complete devastation of our beloved countryside.
Because of the ‘scorched earth’ policy that has been followed (or ‘carnage by computer’), so many animals have had to be killed in a hurry that dreadful mistakes have been made. Some vets and slaughtermen have worked humanely and compassionately (and farmers have spoken particularly highly of the hunt slaughtermen), but others have failed to kill animals properly and have caused immense suffering to both the creatures and to their owners. The fact that slaughtermen have been paid per animal killed has meant that they have worked at top speed (and often sloppily and carelessly), sometimes only stunning animals before loading them and moving them to pyres or burial pits, where they have been witnessed moving, or struggling to get up and walk away. Young cattle have been found crawling around the yard the morning after the cull.
Often, ewes and their new lambs have been separated, causing enormous distress to both, before being transported live to the killing fields. Some heavily pregnant ewes have gone into labour or given birth en route. At home, ewes have sometimes been killed but not pithed, so that their unborn lambs have been left to suffocate painfully inside their dead mothers. Live lambs have been killed by injections to the heart, by having their throats cut, or by having their heads smashed against walls.
Animals have been killed in front of each other, causing huge panic, and live animals have had to stand amongst piles of slaughtered ones (even, in their terror, trying to bury themselves under the dead bodies). Cows have been chased wildly, with teams of ‘cowboys’ on quad bikes taking potshots at them and even breaking their legs to stop them from running, causing dreadful, prolonged suffering to the creatures – and to the farmers looking on helplessly, but not allowed to intervene. Some terrified cows have had their calves slaughtered in front of them to bring them back – and other wounded cattle have escaped, sometimes being left at large for hours with painful wounds. In some cases, farmers have offered to pen their own animals but have been refused, only to then witness the chaotic and cruel chasing and slaughter that followed. In another case, the cattle were penned by the slaughtermen, who were witnessed painfully crushing them up against a wall with hurdles pushed by a JCB.
In some areas, teams of soldiers have had to follow the slaughtermen through, finishing off injured and dying creatures by any means at their disposal, which have included the use of shovels and iron bars – and even throwing them into the river. When I questioned MAFF/DEFRA officials as to who was responsible for the way that animals were slaughtered, I was told that it was the vet who was present at the particular farm, but we have heard since then that, at one time, vets were given responsibility for overseeing up to ten farms at a time (an impossibility) – or of cases where the vet was told by the team of slaughtermen to leave it to them!
In spite of witnesses to all the above events, not one prosecution has been made and the justification always seems to be that the vets and the slaughtermen were operating in difficult circumstances. Not good enough! It is certainly true that people were operating in difficult circumstances, but these circumstances were created by Government policy and by a complete lack of foresight. The team from Imperial College led Government policy and it was their faulty modelling that proposed the 3km contiguous cull (to learn more about this, see references at back of book). Any individual carrying out any of the above acts would find himself in court and I consider it outrageous that such cruelty and complete disregard for the welfare of animals was allowed to happen and that no one has been held accountable. Why were there no guidelines for the slaughter teams to follow, re proper penning, slaughtering techniques, the use of tranquillisers when necessary, and so on? (or, if there were, why were people who strayed from those not disciplined?). In my searching, I have found plenty of published guidelines, which would also have helped to prevent the time wasted on bungled culls.
Slaughter has been decided by clinical diagnosis (that is, examination of the animal by a vet) and not from blood testing, which has been done after culling and, as all sorts of vets have had to be brought in to reach the necessary numbers, small wonder that mistakes have been made. Young and inexperienced vets, vets from small animal practices, vets from abroad (who probably know nothing about, for example, hill sheep) – none of these had probably seen a real live case of FMD, but were told what the symptoms were, told it was out there and sent out to find it – and find it they did! What a pity that, in many cases, they found instead cases of orf, footrot, wooden tongue, omagod (ovine mouth & gum obscure disease), louping ill, even blisters caused by eating thistles or salt licks and, ignoring what the farmers told them, usually proceeded to have these animals slaughtered as foot and mouth cases. No wonder the overwhelming majority of blood tests came back negative! And yet, in spite of those negative results, movement restrictions still remained on these and surrounding farms, and intensive cleaning of the properties was still carried out.
Although enormous numbers of animals have been, and still are being, destroyed, the government is still pressing ahead with its culling policy. DEFRA statistics do not count the baby animals that have been killed, so the real figure of slaughtered animals is probably somewhere near 10 million at present count – and at a cost to the country of about £20 billion.
Movement restrictions have also caused massive animal welfare problems, with creatures living, giving birth, drowning and starving to death in mud. All this from the political party that says that it puts animal welfare first and is still intent on banning fox hunting! It is small wonder that some people think that our government is following its own hidden agenda.
Apart from animal welfare, another aspect of this whole sorry affair is the way that human rights have been completely disregarded. Farmers have been bullied and lied to by officials, to make them agree to give up their animals, and often police and army personnel have turned up in force as well. In a few cases, people have had their homes or outbuildings broken into – and, in many cases, both MAFF officials and vets have spoken to people in an extremely intimidating manner, which farmers have found particularly hard to bear (as some of the older ones have commented, they were brought up to have great respect for vets, and feel completely betrayed by the ones who now have badgered them in this way or lied to them).
It has also been horrifying to discover that (i) vets themselves were instructed to falsely sign ‘A’ notices, being told that if they didn’t the animals would be killed and the farmer would lose his compensation and (ii) until mid June, when it hit the media, farmers were being made to sign the Official Secrets Act!
I have always believed that we live in a fair and democratic system and I am frightened to see just how much power this government has and just how little regard for its people, when it actually comes to the crunch. I would like to plead with all of you who read this book to find out for yourself what is going on and to make your voices of protest clearly heard, to your MPs, the media, and so on. In the back of this book, there is a useful fact sheet about foot and mouth disease, and also a list of websites where you can find out masses of valuable information and contacts. If you don’t have a computer, most libraries provide access to the Internet.
If the culling is still going on when you read this, please join us in our cry for vaccination and, also, for a public inquiry.
If the killing has ended, please think about the future of farming in this country and perhaps join one of the groups that will be pressing for meat that is produced, slaughtered and sold locally, that is raised in a way that is animal welfare friendly, that is healthy and safe for humans, that doesn’t involve a live export trade, or importing cheap meat from countries where animal welfare is not a priority – and that helps to preserve the small farmer and our unique and beautiful British countryside.
Thank you so much for reading this – any money made through sales of this book will be going towards farmers’ legal costs, or to help those others who are on movement restrictions, with no income coming in and animals which desperately need feeding.
I will be happy to answer any queries, to put people in touch with relevant contacts, or to help anyone I can.
Please get involved!
QUITA
(e-mail:
jacquita_a@hotmail.com)
PREFACE
I wrote the
above at the end of the summer, 2001 and, since then, I have added a few more
postings at the end of the book. I
keep finding more and more that I would like to add, but I think it is important
to stop now and to try to get the book published as soon as possible, before the
public completely forget all about FMD!
FMD is now
meant to have ended, although animals are still being slaughtered in different
parts of the country, presumably after blood testing. The latest frightening thing that we are
now challenging is the Animal Health (Amendment) Bill, which is being rushed
through in unseemly haste, even before we hear the result of the three FMD
inquiries. It is ‘an unjust bill,
it’s a disproportionate bill, an unfair bill, a bill that confers more powers on
people who themselves have been found wanting, guilty of incompetence, guilty of
insensitivity and guilty of bungling’ (Peter Ainsworth M.P.). If you want to find out more about this
bill, please contact me, or visit www.warmwell.com. People like me, who own and love
sheep, are also terrified when we read about scrapie/BSE/vCJD and the propaganda
that is surrounding this totally unproven subject – link this in with the Animal
Health Bill and faulty science (such as we have seen with FMD) and you will
understand why we are so worried!
I couldn’t
find a publisher for this book (hence the delay), so have had to pay to have the
book printed myself. Thank you so
much to the kind and generous people who believed in me and in the project
enough to lend me money towards this – I WILL repay you!!!
A final
comment – I was delighted to read an article from the Sunday Post yesterday (20
January), which confirmed what we have been saying in our group (and to anyone
else who would listen!) all along.
The government has consistently manipulated and lied about the FMD
slaughter figures, particularly around election time but, at last, DEFRA has
admitted that the real figures are far more than most people have realised. We will probably never know exactly how
many animals were killed, but the following article will give you some
idea:
SLAUGHTER
TOLL THREE TIMES OFFICIAL FIGURES
by Craig
Robertson
BRITAIN
is now free of foot and mouth, but the cost in terms of livestock is far greater
than the Government has previously admitted. Our investigation has revealed the
number of animals slaughtered was nearly three times the figure released by the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The Department has now admitted they
neglected to count MILLIONS of sheep and cattle.
DEFRA say four million animals were
culled. However, the Meat and
Livestock Commission has confirmed that nearly 11 million animals were
slaughtered in the cull. The Government's official figure records sheep and
cattle killed on the 2030 farms which were struck by foot and mouth plus the
5000 neighbouring farms cleansed in precautionary culls. However the number does
not include beasts killed through the welfare disposal scheme, the light lamb
disposal plan or, crucially, those lambs and calves killed with their mothers.
Jane Connor, chief economist of the
Meat and Livestock Commission, says that a conservative estimate of 1.2
offspring per breeding sheep culled would mean four million lambs were killed
but not accounted for. Lambs "at foot" of sheep marked for slaughter were also
killed but the official tally would only record one animal. The same procedure
operated for culled cattle. Similarly, there were 595,000 cattle culled but the
official figures don't include the 100,000 calves killed with them or the 50,000
calves close to birth.
The Welfare Disposal Scheme, set up to
cull animals that could not be moved because of restrictions, accounted for
another 1.6 million sheep and lambs, 169,000 cattle and 288,000 pigs. Another
half million light lambs were culled because there was no longer a market for
them. None of these is included in the Government's total.
Jane Connor says, "We will never know
exactly how many were culled but it was many more than the official figure."
A spokesman for DEFRA initially
insisted the number of sheep and livestock culled included offspring killed with
them However, after being told that MLC said otherwise, they checked their
figures. The press officer returned to admit, "I stand corrected on that one. It
seems it is standard practice to count ewes and offspring as one animal. Your
information is correct."
The final toll was at least 10,849,000
animals killed.
(21
January, 2002)
MY MOST GRATEFUL THANKS
TO:
·
every person whose
writings are in this book. I have tried to ask everyone’s permission to use
their work but, for those I haven’t managed to contact, please forgive me. There
were a few people whose names I didn’t know, and a few more who asked me not to
use theirs, so I decided not to use anyone’s names from Internet postings,
except when from published articles or press releases.
·
Caroline Shipsey,
Chris Chapman, Alex Moore and Lynda Smith for their
photographs;
·
Cumbria Life
magazine and Jonathan Becker, Loftus Brown and John Giles for allowing me to use
their photographs;
·
Eastern Counties
Newspapers for the photo of the mud-covered lamb;
·
Julia Melia, a very
special person, who has given up all her spare time to type most of this out for
me. Cheers,
Julia!
·
And thank you to
Janet Hughes, for courageously risking all to save so many Welsh mountain
sheep
Also, thank
you, thank you to all of you who have become such a big part of my life over the
last months – Mary, Joyce, Dot, Bryn, Ron, Caroline, June, Denise, Patsi,
Coleen, Ley, Burkie, Janet, Elaine, Diana, Flis, Jenni, Tricia, Patricia, Lina,
Tony, Mike, Melanie, Lynda, Lynne, Val S, Val L, Andy, David, Nick, Alan, Rosie,
Hilary, Jane, Roger, Richard, Julian, Margaret, Sue, Susan, Sheri, Andrew, Ann,
Val C, Jill, Christine, Greg, and all the rest!
Finally, thank
you to all my dear family, near and far, who have had their ears bent by me
endlessly about foot and mouth disease – and who will always, I believe, have
the courage to stand up for what they believe in!
“That he,
which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him
depart, his passport shall be made,
And crowns
for convoy put in this purse:
We would
not die in that man’s company,
That fears
his fellowship to die with us.
We few, we
happy few, we band of brothers:
For he that
sheds his blood with me
Shall be my
brother; be ne’er so vile,
This
day shall gentle his condition:
And
gentlemen in England, now abed,
Shall think
themselves accursed, they were not here,
And hold
their manhoods cheap, whiles any speaks
That fought
with us upon Saint Crispin’s day”
(“Henry V”,
courtesy of Bryn)
(Dividers
on the page show postings by different people on the same
date.)
11
March, 2001
I
heard this evening that we now have our first confirmed case in the Forest of
Dean. It is about a mile or so away, right on the A48, which is a very busy main
road. I wonder what is going to happen about the sheep? At present they are
still wandering the Forest, including roads and villages, at will. Lambing is in
full swing amongst them, too.
12
March, 2001 |
|
Dear
friends of truth:
What
is happening to our livestock should break our hearts, should cause us to weep
some at least, knowing the tears to be the rain of the soul. I know that what
you are about to read is right. When I had my home in Swaziland in the late 60s,
there was a severe outbreak of foot and mouth disease. No cattle died, nobody died. It was like an
outbreak of influenza amongst humans; except that extra quarantine precautions
had to be taken for it not to spread across the borders into South Africa and
Mozambique. Dear friends, our animals are us down to the bone marrow. Only the
spirit that is asking us to see what we are doing to them gives us our special
place in creation!
13
March, 2001 |
|
This is so
quite dreadful, I can hardly bear it. It does not seriously affect me personally
as I have no animals susceptible to this disease, but only two minutes down the
road they are tonight burning the animals which were slaughtered yesterday. The
fire is at least 200 yards in length and lighting up the sky for miles around. A
nightmare scenario.
The
“Forest” sheep have gone from our village. I don’t know if they have been
rounded up or slaughtered. It seems so very strange and deserted without them.
They are still running free in Yorkley and most other villages round and about.
John went to Coleford this afternoon and he noticed no marked decrease in the
number of sheep wondering free, except actually in our
village.
I can’t
help worrying about the deer. What will become of these shy and lovely animals?
Once the free roaming sheep get the disease, will there be any hope at all for
the deer.
14
March, 2001 |
|
I
have always been glad to live in the country, until now. The way things are
at
present I almost wish I lived in a city away from all this horror. The village
seems so quiet this morning. Not a sheep or lamb in sight (or
sound).
21
March, 2001 |
|
Sorry, list,
to keep on about this very nasty subject but I wondered if anyone else noticed
the anomalies in a statement on TV by a MAFF spokesman. He said, categorically,
that the virus could only survive for 30 minutes once an animal has been
slaughtered, then in the very next sentence he said that it had almost certainly
been caused by feeding pigs on swill containing contaminated meat. If both his
statements were accurate, then the contaminated meat in the pigswill must have
come from an animal which was alive less than 30 minutes prior to being fed to
the pigs. I DON’T THINK SO! Since at least one of the above statements is
patently not true, how many other lies are being given to
us?
From what I have read
on the various relevant sites I have visited, by vaccinating livestock we would
lose our “disease free” status --------- and consequently our exports to Japan
and USA. Since we do not export vast quantities of meat to either of these
countries, would it be such an economic disaster to lose these markets? (We have
probably lost them anyway, for the foreseeable future, as what country will
trust our meat after this?)
Can someone explain to
me why we export our meat at all? The supermarkets are full of imported meat all
the time. It often requires a search to find British produced meat. (I am
talking about generally, not just during this crisis). Why don’t we keep our
meat for home consumption and stop importing foreign meat? OK so I am naοve in
the ways of international commerce, but the whole thing seems crazy to
me.
I rather think
that some of these politicians might think differently about this draconian
“kill and burn” policy if they had to cope with the stench of burning animals
every time they opened their back door. They should have been living here for
the past week. It is so depressing, and I am only on the periphery, so to speak.
If I was directly involved, I am sure I would be suicidal by
now.
22
March, 2001 |
|
According to a
news item I saw on TV they are transporting some of these animals from Scotland
to North Wales to be slaughtered, passing at least a dozen abattoirs on the way.
This cannot be in the interests of the poor creatures. Hours in a cattle truck
just to be slaughtered at the end of it.
(But isn’t this the usual fate of meat animals in these
“enlightened” times? Is this perhaps one of the reasons for the rapid spread
of this disease?) Modern farming practices have a lot to answer for, in my
humble opinion.
23
March, 2001 |
|
Whilst I feel great
sympathy for the decent livestock owners whose livelihoods are under threat
because of this outbreak, not all those affected are even deserving of our
sympathy Most of the cases in this area are directly linked to one person who is
a livestock dealer, not a farmer. He buys animals at any market where he can get
them at knock down prices, only to sell them on again at another market as soon
as the price goes up to make the trip worthwhile.
If they have
to stay on his holding for any length of time, they are usually crammed into
fields with hardly a blade of grass in them, which rapidly become like quagmires
if the weather is poor. He has had thousands of sheep slaughtered (on several
different sites) but, although I have every sympathy with the animals, I can’t
find it in my heart to feel sorry for this person. I do feel sorry for his neighbour who
has lost a herd of well cared for pedigree dairy cattle ---- just because his
farm happened to adjoin that of this dealer.
Damien Hurst
has nothing on me!
I create
ghostly pictures of death, officially sanctioned.
I have to
believe this mass sacrifice of animals I love is worth it.
Or is it the
farmers who are the real sacrifice?
Like the
animals, they take it meekly and obediently often thanking me for doing
it.
After I killed
all 356 cattle in one family’s dairy herd they sent flowers to my
wife.
These are the
people who are giving up all, in the hope it will save
others.
But don’t get
me wrong!
I have now
seen plenty of this plague and it is no common cold.
The animals
suffer horribly, as the skin of their tongues peel off and the feet fall
apart.
We must try to
kill them quick and clean, as soon as it appears in a herd or
flock.
The farmers’
suffering does not end with the visit of the slaughter
men.
I must
continue to do my duty in these Cumbrian killing fields, quickly, efficiently
& effectively.
Yes, the
official papers must all be in place.
Yes, the
Health and Safety man must be happy.
Yes, the
Environment Agency is only doing their job as best they
can.
It is 6am.
Today I go out to kill again.
The worst is
the young stock.
I thank God
the lambs are not yet born with these ewes.
Today I will
have to kill a calf born yesterday, the first beautiful calf from the farmers’
pride and joy – his new Charolais bull.
This
is not what I trained for.
I hope
familiarity will never make me immune from the trauma of
killing.
But I do hope
– for the animal’s sake – to be good at it.
It is the
virus we are trying to kill!
With our
disinfectants and culling policy, our imprisonment of farmers in their own
homes.
All they have
left is the telephone.
Perhaps today
there is hope.
One soldier
will meet me at the farm gate.
I hope he, not
me, will quickly arrange the funeral of the animals I
love.
Before their
carcasses get so bloated they fall apart.
Adding more to
the farmers’ anguish, trapped amongst them.
I should be
free to move on quickly, find the virus and kill again.
Into the
valley of Death drove the 600.
Or are we now
1100?
The
countryside I love is bleeding to death.
Mr Blair, please
help.
Written
by a Temporary Veterinary Inspector (TVI) working with
MAFF
26
March, 2001 |
|
At the present
the clouds are dark all around us and the future is a nagging ache. Keep your spirits up with all the native
grit inherited from our tough ancestry. Show the world that we are true
grit.
Ahead the
clouds are lined with silver and shot through with gold. It is not the end for
our dear land. We will be shown another way, a better way. It is not the end for
us but a new beginning. Already the plans and help await.
Keep quiet
faith and remember these words.
We live in an area
where we are now virtually surrounded by foot and mouth. Not miles away, but
huge funeral pyres less than a mile away. Many of the carcasses being burned
today were actually slaughtered two weeks ago and were so rotten they were
falling apart as they were being shifted. The burning is going on right in the
village. I cannot imagine what it must be like for the poor people living there.
Four huge bonfires in a well populated village. I don’t know whether to cry or
scream. I feel like doing both. Is there nothing we can do to stop this
lunacy?
27
March, 2001 |
|
Sue,
My heart
bleeds for you. I have no susceptible livestock myself but I live in a rural
community in the Forest of Dean and so many of my friends and neighbours are in
the same situation as you. Their animals don’t have the disease, but they know
that it is only a matter of time before they have to lose them anyway, because
of where they live.
These are
“little people” for the most part. Tom, a pensioner, who keeps a small flock of
10 black ewes, who all have lambs at present. Viv, who gave up keeping cattle
after the BSE crisis and turned her farm into livery stables and grazing, but
kept some of her old cows because she was very attached to them. Then there is
Enid, with her small herd of pedigree show goats.
Our garden
backs onto farmland, owned by Robert, a small single-handed “proper” farmer who
really cares for his animals. As soon as the first Foot and Mouth cases were
announced, Robert moved all his animals into fields in the very centre of his
holding, adjacent to his barns, feed stores and lambing sheds (with no road
access). His animals have remained disease free, but he is destined to lose them
anyway, because some of his fields adjoin those of an infected holding. It would
seem that no account will be taken of the fact that these fields are used for
crop production only, and Robert’s livestock have never had access to
them.
MAFF has been
handling this crisis about as “well” here as they have in Devon. Yesterday they
began burning animals that were slaughtered two weeks ago. The carcasses were
literally falling apart as they were lifting them with the JCBs and the stench
in the village is unbelievable.
The ministry
is saying that the cases directly across the river from Blakeney were caused by
“airborne” infection. Might it not have more to do with the fact that for weeks
the crows, seagulls and other birds have been scavenging on the carcasses left
rotting in the fields, and it is less than a mile across the river? These birds
commute back and forth across the river all the time.
Other
countries choose to ignore EU directives when they believe that these conflict
with their own interests. Why did we not do likewise? The whole idea of disease
free status has to be a joke now, when it looks as if half our country’s
livestock is to be wiped out, and we are once again the pariahs of Europe (if
not the whole of the developed world).
It rather
looks as if the disease will run its course and will be with us until the
weather conditions are no longer conducive to the spread of the virus. Then the
government will take credit for having “brought it under
control”.
Heard
Ben Gill, NFU President, saying the following on BBC Business Breakfast
today:
*
“There’s a kind of
feeling that vaccination’s a soft option, you just go and you do a few
injections, you’ve cracked it, you’ve no more problems – that’s not the
reality”;
*
“First of all you
need multiple injections, you have a primary injection, a booster after one
month and then every six months”;
*
“At the moment I do
not see the case for vaccination as a solution to this problem. We need to rid ourselves of this
disease, not push it back into the wilds of the countryside where it will
harbour in wild animals and be a continual irritant and depressant to our farm
population”.
What a pity
that Mr. Gill doesn’t educate himself a little better!
28
March, 2001 |
|
On a nearby
farm, pregnant ewes were “slaughtered” and left in the field awaiting disposal.
When the carcasses were eventually attended to, it was found that a number of
these supposedly “dead” ewes had given birth. I cannot think of any comment I
can possibly add to this.
Ever since
they started the burning, I have purposely avoided going to Blakeney or the A48.
Today I had to go to the dentist and could not realistically avoid the area. I
was appalled by what I saw. As you drop down over the hill, the village is
spread out below and in one field are 4 of the most enormous “barrows” each
about 100 yards long. (I don’t know what else to call them). Three are burning,
the fourth has yet to be lit.
They are
situated right behind a little cluster of cottages ---- all occupied ---- and
one of the village’s pubs. They are practically adjacent to the back gardens of
these cottages, there is a pall of foul smelling smoke hanging all over the
village. I can’t believe they could have elected to burn huge numbers of dead
animals so close to people’s homes. Living there must be an absolute
nightmare.
But the whole ghastly
business has reached nightmare proportions now, and the Government are still
saying that they will not be adopting general vaccination policies, just
selected vaccination in some areas, followed by the slaughter of the vaccinated
animals. (Or have I misunderstood this news bulletin)? I have just heard, also,
that vaccination will only be considered for cattle, not for
sheep.
29
March, 2001 |
|
Today
is a very sad day in the Forest of Dean. For those of you who don’t know this
area, the Forest is populated by free roaming sheep. They are not wild. They all
have owners, known locally as “sheep badgers”. As in all other walks of life
some of these owners are good, some not so good. But the sheep are very much a
part of the scenery around here and really help to make it what it
is.
At the onset
of the foot and mouth crisis the good owners rounded their sheep up and kept
them safe. The not so good let them continue to roam. Now it has been announced
that all the forest sheep are to be slaughtered. Not just those which are still
roaming, but all of them. They are not infected; the cull, involving
approximately 3000 sheep, is purely precautionary.
Since the
sheep and the deer roam the same areas, we are now expecting to hear any day
that the deer are also to be culled. (For “culled”, read “killed”). That will
not be so easy, of course, as these are genuinely wild animals, very shy and
secretive. (The sheep will follow anyone carrying a bag that might contain tasty
morsels). I can’t bear to look at the lambs playing on the green knowing what
fate MAFF has mapped out for them in the next few days. Some of them have only
been born a few days ago. And still the Government persists with this barbarous
“kill and burn” policy when it should be clear even to the most obtuse, that
this policy is not working.
30
March, 2001 |
|
The
countryside is still open for business. (It must be, Tony Blair said so). If you
are planning a weekend in the country, why not visit the beautiful Royal Forest
of Dean? You won’t be able to walk in the woods, or avail yourself of the many
picnic areas, bridle paths and footpaths. You can’t stroll by Forest streams and
enjoy the sight and smell of the bluebells. These attractions are currently
closed because of the Foot and Mouth Crisis. But there is still plenty for you
to do:
¨
Come and watch the
forest sheep being rounded up prior to being killed
¨
Take an educational
tour of the funeral pyres which are now a feature of this
area
¨
Visit the piles of
carcasses still waiting to be put on these pyres
¨
Visit the village
of Blakeney, breath deeply and revitalise your lungs with a dose of the acrid
smoke the locals have so far had all to themselves
Oh, yes, we are still open for
business, so don’t miss out on this wonderful opportunity to get away from it
all. Visit the Royal Forest of Dean this weekend.
(Sorry if I sound bitter, it is just
because I am).
My
neighbour is an elderly widower who lives alone and has no family. He doesn’t
relate well to people, preferring to “keep himself to himself” and has few, if
any, friends (of the human kind, that is). His friends are the sheep. He doesn’t
own any, but he has befriended all the ones that wander about the
village. He feeds them and talks to them and fusses with them. They all tend to
hang about his gate. He only has to go outside for them to all come running. I
can’t imagine what his life will be like now that he will lose his only friends
in the world.
From
the far end of our village we have a good view out over the Severn to Berkeley,
where they are tonight burning the healthy cattle, which were killed rather than
allow them to be vaccinated. The irony of the situation is that Berkeley is the
home of Edward Jenner, who was the pioneer of vaccination and developed the
first vaccine against smallpox, as well as others. And what did he use to
develop his vaccines? Why, CATTLE, of course.
1
April, 2001 |
|
SPRING
2000
It’s a
beautiful day. The sun is out and the cattle are grazing on the green fields.
Through the day they make their way to the barn for milking. The newborn lambs
frolic in the sunshine, skipping and bucking, full of joy to be alive, until
they go too far and their mothers call them back. The pigs are wandering
carefree. It’s much nicer for them roaming free than contained in small spaces.
Little piglets squeal and run around full of mischief. They are lucky. Spring
has sprung.
SPRING
2001
The
sun is out but there’s smog today in the countryside, and a smell. It comes from
the big fires. The cattle are in the fields ……… burning, and the sheep and pigs.
Those yet to burn are lying in the barns rotting. No milking today. There are no
newborn lambs frolicking or mischievous piglets having fun. Were they ever born?
Did they have a day in the sun? Fate had something else in store. Foot and Mouth
has sprung!
2
April, 2001 |
|
Living
in an infected area does influence ones outlook on the F&M crisis. Yesterday
I had to go to London. To my great surprise, once we left our own locality, for
the rest of the journey there was virtually no evidence of the crisis at
all.
Once
we had left our area’s deserted fields everything looked perfectly normal; sheep
and cattle grazing in the pastures, no dead animals, no funeral pyres. Just
normal English countryside.
It
made me realise that we cannot honestly
expect people from these unaffected areas to appreciate the horror of the
situation for those of us unfortunate to be living in the midst of it. I hope
and pray that those areas which are free remain so.
One of my
customers is a “sheep badger”. (That is someone who exercises his commoner’s
right to graze his sheep in the Forest). He doesn’t run many sheep. Compared to
some of the other “badgers” his is a very small flock, but he cares for them
diligently. His were rounded up at the very start of this crisis and have not
roamed free since. When it was agreed that the Forest sheep were to be
slaughtered, he refused to hand his over. (They had already been inspected by a
ministry vet and passed as healthy).
He is an
elderly man, but prepared to stand up to MAFF and has told them that if they
want his sheep they will have to get a court order, and that he will fight them
every inch of the way. And these
are not even valuable pedigree animals. Just crossbred “street sheep”. He says
that if they were infected, he would let them be slaughtered, but as long as
they are healthy, no way will he let them go. I am keeping my fingers crossed
for him.
3
April, 2001 |
|
AN
OPEN LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF CUMBRIA
From
Annie Mawson, Cumbria Woman of the Year 2000:
I write at the
request of many dear friends throughout Cumbria and, especially the Valley of
Eden, who have helped my charity, Sunbeams Music Trust over the last 8 years,
never failing and always supportive to my people with Special Needs. And now
they have very special needs of their own, and they need OUR help and support
as, one by one, the small rural hamlets of North Cumbria are wiped
out.
I write this
as a Cumbrian Farmer’s daughter, with an aching heart for all my farming
friends, and for my cousins and my own dear brother and old friends in West
Cumberland, who are living with the Sword of Damocles as the FAM insidiously
gets nearer to their farms. And I write this, as a resident of Tirril, who has
lived behind closed curtains which mask the biggest individual fire in the
country, still burning after 27 days. Nobody could have prepared us for the
smell, for the stench of death invading every room, through the ancient cracks,
under the doors, down the chimneys, as we checked the wind direction, hoping for
a reprieve, albeit for a few hours.
But our
discomfort was nothing compared to the inexorable heartache behind the lists of
affected farms read out by Radio Cumbria. But herein lies my incredulity, as I
naively presumed everything really was under control (long before Nick Brown
uttered those immortal words which will no doubt come to haunt him). It did
strike us in Tirril that the animals awaited slaughter a long time, that the
fire took a long time to prepare – 8 days - that the carcasses lay a very long
time – and, we never dreamt then that the fire would burn for 27
days.
We all thought
this would be an exceptional case. But no, horrifyingly, this first outbreak has
been the rule rather than the exception. We didn’t dare ask, what’s to stop this
tragedy happening again? One presumes that “they” are, really are, investigating
the causes, so that this disaster will never happen again. It seemed obvious to
us in Tirril that infected pigswill and imported meat from countries where FAM
is endemic, were to blame.
By now, there
is well-documented evidence of the slowness in reaction by the government, and
their failure to bring the spread of the disease under control. BUT – my point
is that we in Tirril were talking of these factors FOUR WHOLE WEEKS AGO. I was
naοve to believe that the Government would have the answers. But the Government
strategy seems to have been in disarray since the discovery of the epidemic,
impeded by bureaucratic centralism and a reluctance to use all available help
from the onset. It is heartbreaking that the discussions about the disease which
now prevail in the media were the ordinary topics of conversation in our little
village where the greatest number of animals were cremated in the whole
country.
Now, in the
fifth week, they are chasing the disease, instead of containing
it.
Where is
evidence that “they” have learnt from the 1967 outbreak and the resultant
Northumberland Report? Why was the initial reaction from the Essex outbreak so
complacent? Why was movement of livestock not prohibited immediately? Why didn’t
the Government take the situation sufficiently serious at the beginning?
(Indeed, during the second week, the Cumbrian situation scarcely made national
headlines on television). Why is it a case of always seeming to be “locking the
door after the horse has bolted?” Why do “they” seem to be always caught on the
hop? Why is there no proper Government strategy? Why do the different helplines
give differing information? Why are we still crying out for a reduction of time
between detection, slaughter and burning/rendering?
The television
reports speak daily of the shortage of vets, slaughtermen, valuers – I believe
there is a shortage of veterinary surgeons trained in the country, due to a
reduction in successive Government funding for veterinary education (Liverpool
University).
Why? Why, in
our naivety have we considered strategies four weeks ago, which are only now
being implemented? We presumed that it was so obvious that the army had to be
utilised, and waited to see them in Tirril …… and waited …… and
waited.
QUESTIONS
BEGGING TO BE ANSWERED
¨
VACCINATION:
Confusion over its use helps to feed our feelings of frustration and despair;
misunderstanding over its efficacy or does it “mask” the disease, and thus make
diagnosis difficult?
Who do we believe? As I write, we await
the decision, but every 24 hours condemns another 20+ farms, plus the ones in
the 3km zone. And what gives us the faith that the practice of vaccination will
be carried out efficiently and to the farms in crisis, when some farms within
the 3km zone still haven’t received any confirmation from MAFF anyway that they
are in a restricted area? And when my friends in Stockbridge were told that
their sheep will be slaughtered ‘tomorrow’ when in fact they were cremated 3
weeks ago? Why should we have faith in MAFF any more when the goalposts keep
changing?
¨
Emotions run high
at rumours of sheepdogs killed; and was it rats in their thousands that are
spreading the disease? Who do we believe? There is mud running alongside my
house for 20 feet and within six inches of my steps, from the wagon wheels
carrying diseased animals to be rendered. Is it infectious? Yes, says Chief
Veterinary Officer Jim Scudamore; No, say MAFF.
¨ DISINFECTED MATS: In Tirril, from March 1st onwards, we awaited their appearance on the roads …… and we waited …… and waited. On ringing the Cumbria County Council Helpline, I was told that “it is not policy t