NZ's foot and mouth 'witch-hunt'

New Zealand is anxious to keep livestock disease-free

A New Zealand woman could face prosecution for failing to declare a visit to the British countryside since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

The country's agriculture minister, Jim Sutton, said Jenny Wood had incorrectly filled in her customs declaration form on her return to New Zealand, an offence that carries fines of up to $45,000 or a maximum five-year prison term.

The case came to light after an opposition National Party MP, Eric Roy, criticised the government's lax approach to keeping foot-and-mouth disease out of the country.

Mrs Wood's footwear were not checked

Mr Roy had described as "appalling" the fact that Mrs Wood's bags and footwear had not been checked, and that she had not been questioned.

But when customs officials checked Mrs Wood's quarantine declaration, they are said to have found that she had ticked boxes on the declaration form saying she had not been on a farm and carried no equipment or clothing that could have been on a farm.

Mrs Wood was in rural Britain five days after the foot-and-mouth outbreak began.

She told the New Zealand Herald newspaper that she had stayed in a farm cottage, on land that was not being used for farming at the time.

If she had filled out the form inaccurately, she said, it showed that the questions were not clear enough.

'Ham fisted'

Mr Roy accused Mr Sutton of conducting a witch-hunt against Mrs Wood.

"He is breaking a butterfly on a wheel," he said.

"His ham-fisted threat to imprison a woman who made a simple mistake during a long-haul flight is the trademark of a bully and a coward."

Mr Roy said he had received several calls expressing concern about border security since the outbreak, and questioned the effectiveness of a single question on the form as a protection against the disease.

Agriculture Ministry officials are checking for other cases of inaccurate declarations.