Troops called in to control livestock

A total of 40,000 animals are to be slaughtered

The army is being used in Wales for the first time in an effort to control the outbreak of foot-and-mouth.

A group of 35 Gurkhas from the Infantry Training Centre Wales in Brecon were deployed in the Black Mountains in Powys, on Monday to control the movement of animals.

Elsewhere, the army is supervising the disposal of carcasses

Brigadier Roger Charles from the army's HQ at Brecon said the unarmed soldiers were playing an important role in segregating animals and rounding up strays.

"We are providing a firebreak between the affected and non-affected areas," he explained.

"We are stopping the animals getting from the affected area to the area that we hope is reasonably clean and pushing them back into the affected areas so that they can be dealt with by Maff and other authorities."

There are now 42 confirmed cases of the virus within Wales, 13 of which are on Anglesey, 25 in Powys and a further four in Monmouthshire. An additional 14 sites are under suspicion.

Meanwhile, farmers in Anglesey are preparing for a mass slaughter of 40,000 sheep and lambs.

Checking a lamb for signs of the disease

Welsh Assembly Agriculture Minister Carwyn Jones said the MAFF cull on Anglesey would begin at 1400GMT on Tuesday with a flock of 2,000 animals.

He also revealed he was contemplating a localised cull in the Church Stoke area of Powys to deal with the outbreak there.

It is expected that the Anglesey cull will take up to 10 days to complete.

Mass grave

The livestock will be taken to an abattoir at Gaerwen on the island for slaughter.

A site on the west of the island is being investigated as a possible mass grave for the carcasses.

Ministry vets have begun contacting farms in preparation for the killings.

"We are looking to carry out the cull as swiftly as possible," Mr Jones said.

"The reasoning behind the pre-emptive cull is so that the disease doesn't spread any further."

There are concerns about the way matters have been dealt with to date

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones

Without going into detail, Mr Jones said that he intended to find the quickest possible method of disposing of the carcasses.

"At the moment we're looking at a number of ways of disposing of the animals."

The Conservative Assembly Member for North Wales - Peter Rogers - said that the cull is "ill founded" and far too late.

But farming unions have widely supported the mass slaughter of animals on Anglesey.

'Dark day'

National Farmers Union Cymru President Hugh Richards said the cull was a "dark day for Welsh farmers."

But he added that they would accept it if scientists believed it was the best way to halt the disease.

Meanwhile Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said: "There are concerns about the way matters have been dealt with to date."

"Farmers need to know what is happening." he added.

The number of cases of the virus continues to rise

"We have now agreed a line of information with both farming unions so that if farmers need to know what is happening they can contact their farming union."

Maff officials began contacting farmers on the outer edges of the culling zone on Monday.

The Anglesey cull will cover 50 square miles of the island and is expected to take up to a fortnight.

Around a quarter of farmers on the island will be affected, some are marking up their best animals in they hope they can be saved in under plans to spare some pedigrees.

Meanwhile, in Powys - where the largest concentration of cases exists in Wales - Maff officials are to conduct interviews in order to discover how the disease has been spreading in the area.

A total of 24 infected sites have been identified in the county, but the pattern of contamination there has confused veterinary officials.

A cull of 10,000 sheep and 500 cattle began at farms on the Welsh border with Herefordshire on Thursday.

Maff vets said the animals are being put down because of "dangerous contacts" with an outbreak at Peterstow, near Ross-on-Wye.