Disease toll rises as cull goes on

There is growing unrest at the slaughter of sheep

Three more cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been confirmed at farms in Dumfries and Galloway bringing the total in Scotland to 49 and 337 across the UK.

The latest cases, all near Lockerbie, were confirmed as the precautionary cull of 200,000 sheep continued.

The National Farmers Union in Scotland (NFUS) said most of its members supported the action though many were devastated at the prospect of losing entire herds.

But one farmer in the Borders said hy would take legal action to stop his "clean" animals from being slaughtered.

The cull of Scottish sheep is under way

The precautionary cull that began in Scotland at the weekend continued in Aberdeenshire and Moray on Monday.

It is expected to target another four farms in the Highlands on Tuesday that have a total of 1,850 potentially infected sheep.

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive said plans to move the cull to the infected area of Dumfries and Galloway were underway and should be in place by the end of the week.

"While we recognise the distress to farmers concerned, the slaughter of these sheep where we have identified contact with infected farms or markets is vital to stamp out the disease nationally," he said.

A spokeswoman for the NFUS said most farmers supported the mass slaughter of sheep throughout the country.

'Farmers devastated'

"Our phones were manned through the weekend, as they have been throughout the crisis, and we had a lot of calls about the pre-emptive cull," she said.

"To a man, the people who contacted us were supportive of these measures, drastic though they are.

"Don't get the impression it's an easy decision for the farmers. We have a lot of farmers devastated at the prospect of seeing their life work going.

Colin Strang Steel: Planning legal action

"But they have no doubt of the need to get the disease eradicated as quickly as possible."

The spokeswoman said many farmers felt it necessary to sacrifice their own sheep to safeguard the rest of their livestock and those owned by friends and neighbours.

But one farmer broke ranks with the NFUS and said he was prepared to take legal action to prevent his animals from being slaughtered.

Colin Strang-Steel from Blainslie in the Scottish Borders said: "We underwent four separate inspections by the minister vets and they found nothing wrong with any of our flock or our cattle.

"We are 40 miles from the nearest outbreak, our animals are totally clean, and the vets themselves have said there is no way they could be infectious or infect others."

The spokeswoman for the NFUS said this was a minority view.