A DARK period when large parts of rural Dumfriesshire were devastated by a major outbreak of foot and mouth disease was recounted at Westminster yesterday.
It follows alarm that an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Germany could reach the UK, potentially causing a devastating impact on rural communities, agriculture and the food industry.
Minster of State at DEFRA Daniel Zeichner gave MPs an update on precautions being introduced in the UK including an import ban from Germany on cattle, pigs and sheep.
He was then quizzed on the UK’s readiness to deal with any outbreak and a number of MPs described their own personal memories.
Dumfriesshire MP David Mundell described how his constituency was one of the most significantly impacted by the 2001 outbreak with thousands of hoofed animals locally being slaughtered.
Mr Mundell, then an MSP, recalled: “The smoke from the pyres hung over particularly the Annan valley for days.”
He explained that one of the main markets for livestock from his constituency was at Longtown, over the border in Cumbria, which had been one of the contact points in the spread of the 2001 outbreak.
In addition, Mr Mundell asked the Minister to ensure in any current preparatory work that the UK Government worked closely with the Scottish Government because of the significant amount of cross-border movement of animals that needed to be properly identified and regulated.
