Beacons mass slaughter to begin

Around 100,000 sheep roam freely on the Beacons

The cull of 4,000 sheep on the Brecon Beacons is to begin on Friday.

The mass slaughter was ordered by the Welsh Assembly after foot-and-mouth antibodies were found in sheep grazing on the hills of the mid Wales national park where around 100,000 animals road freely.

The animals will be slaughtered in huge pens along the A470

The animals will be killed in a specially built pens along the A470 - the main route between north and south Wales - from where they will be taken to rendering plants in England.

The flocks had undergone blood tests over the weekend which confirmed fears that the disease had spread to the hills after a outbreak cluster in nearby Libanus.

Significantly high levels of antibodies were found. In one flock as many as one sheep in 10 were affected.

On Thursday evening the sheep were still on the hillside after graziers spent hours locked in talks with ministry officials and vets.

Many were unhappy about the fate now facing their stock and livelihoods but eventually the cull was agreed.

Crisis in Wales

Total confirmed cases UK-wide 1,888 - with 109 in Wales

Powys - 69 cases

Anglesey - 13 cases

Monmouthshire - 20 cases

Caerphilly 2

Rhondda Cynon Taff - 1

Neath Port Talbot -1

Newport - 3

"I feel very disappointed and everyone is down in the dumps really, for want of a better expression," said Graziers Association Chairman Edwin Harris.

"What happens next is the biggest worry."

Soon after announcing a £65m rural recovery plan for the worst hit parts of the country, the Welsh Assembly warned that there still could be carriers of the disease and once again ruled out vaccination.

"The epidemiologists tell us that the number of animals with antibodies is so high that it suggests there is active disease within the flocks that are penned at the moment," said Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Carwyn Jones.

"So it's not simply a case that the disease has been there - the belief at the moment is the disease is there."

Carwyn Jones says active disease is present

But as official prepare to test the first of 6,000 more sheep on Friday the assembly is facing calls to prevent a wide-scale cull of tens of thousands of sheep across the Beacons.

"If they cull the whole of the livestock on the hills that's going to destroy centuries of tradition and really what we must do is see if there are other ways we can tackle this problem," Chris Gledhill of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Early on Friday morning, slaughter men will move onto the hills to begin with the task if killing the sheep.

Farmers in Cumbria, who have lost over 1.5m animals to farm culls, said the cull of 4,000 could be the start of a 100,000-strong slaughter in Wales.

They are awaiting test results from their own hefted flocks in the Lake District and said any remaining threat to livestock was a huge concern.