The worst case: 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom
It hard to argue with 2 thousand cases, 10 thousand culled farms, and over 6 million animals slaughtered being a crisis of horrific proportions.
Eight hundred forty-three cases were in the county of Cumbria alone. The resilience of communities in this area was noted recently by Parliament.
However, lessons learned have not all been acted on. Additional lessons have not been widely acknowledged. An important one is the linkage between an “agricultural” problem and the broader rural economy. The non-farm rural businesses impacted by the FMD outbreak were not eligible for indemnity as they had not suffered “takings” of animals. Perhaps the “taking” of one’s livelihood as the result of disease control policies should count for something?
The rural economies in Cumbria and Devon, the hardest hit areas of the country, lag behind the rest of the country. Recovery is slow coming for this crisis.
Thanks for sharing these great articles. It certainly brings back some memories of that awful time for the agricultural community in an area that I love – Cumbria and the Lake District.
I read with interest an article last week saying that if a similar foot and mouth crisis occured today that it could be handled differently with no need for the mass culls that took place a decade ago. This is good news if we ever find ourselves faced with a similar problem in future.