RSPCA warns of ongoing disease

Any further necessary culls could take place within days

The RSPCA is warning that unless the government tackles the problem of carrier sheep in the next two months, foot-and-mouth could continue into next year.

As farmers await test results from sheep in the Brecon Beacons, the animal charity fears there could be more heartbreaking scenes of lambs suffering next spring.

The cull of 4,000 sheep on the Brecon Beacons, which was completed on Saturday after antibodies were found in a small number of animals, has left many in the farming community worried that more large-scale slaughter will follow.

Crisis in Wales

Total confirmed cases UK-wide 1,900 - with 112 in Wales

Powys - 72 cases

Anglesey - 13 cases

Monmouthshire - 20 cases

Caerphilly 2

Rhondda Cynon Taff - 1

Neath Port Talbot -1

Newport - 3

Chris Laurence, chief veterinary officer at the RSPCA, said it was "feasible" that every sheep in the area could be slaughtered.

The results of tests on a further 6,000 sheep in the region will be fast-tracked and the results should be known early next week.

If they are positive, new culls could begin by the middle of the week.

Mr Laurence warned that when the disease would be eliminated nationwide was "anybody's guess".

Welfare problems

He told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme the epidemic could continue into next year, reminding experts that the heat of the British summer would only kill the virus on the ground and not in carrier sheep.

Mr Laurence said: "We know we are in for some quite severe welfare problems over this coming winter because of food shortages.

Morley insists the nation is in the 'tail' of the disease

"If we have movement restrictions as well as foot-and-mouth we will be back to the scenes, I fear, next spring, of sheep wandering around up to their elbows in mud, lambs drowning in mud.

"Getting rid of the virus is the key, finding these carrier sheep and doing something with them.

"The government needs to get on with it and get it done in the next couple of months."

This is the height of the tourist season and yet the Beacons national park could remain closed to walkers for months.

Small businesses

Only the Black Mountain range to the west of the Beacons is still open to walkers.

For some small businesses, their entire summer season could be blighted by foot-and-mouth.

There are an enormous amount of sheep - it has got the potential to be another Cumbria

Robert Davies
Farmer

One farmer in the region, Robert Davies, said he believed there would be more slaughter.

"There are an enormous amount of sheep. It has got the potential to be another Cumbria.

"It is the uncertainty that is the worst thing."

The warnings came as one Welsh farmer claimed wshe was offered an infected sheep for £2,000. Nuala Preston from Pembrokeshire told the BBC said she was disgusted to receive the phone call from another farmer.

Rumours have circulated for some time that fraudsters have attempted to sell diseased livestock to qualify for compensation.

Inquiry rejected

Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Carwyn Jones rejected suggestions that culling was an inappropriate policy on the Brecon Beacons.

He said: "We cannot be certain that the disease would burn itself out, and there would also be an unacceptable risk of the disease escaping from the area."

Agriculture minister Elliot Morley told the BBC there was no other option than culling in the Brecon Beacons and he deflected calls for the government to commit itself to a "public tribunal" inquiry into the disease.

"The prime minister has already given an indication that the kind of inquiry that he wants should not be one that goes on for years and years and years and costs millions of pounds."

He defended the new cull, adding: "What the results have shown so far is that the disease is cycling within the flock, so therefore there is a very high risk of active disease which is taking place.

"In those circumstances, then really you do have to cull the sheep to make sure the disease isn't going to spread."