Scots frustration at delays to cull
Scots frustration at delays to cull
THERE is growing concern in Dumfries and Galloway that the pre-emptive cull of about 200,000 sheep in the east of the county has still not begun.
When Scottish farm minister Ross Finnie and First Minister Henry McLeish toured the emergency planning headquarters of Dumfries and Galloway Council last Friday, both were hopeful that the cull could begin early this week.
But by Wednesday, the Scottish Executive was still saying that it did not know when slaughtering would begin. "The planning is a hugely complex exercise and the logistics are massive," said an executive spokeswoman. "What we are determined to do is to get things right before we begin. What we certainly do not want is for the cull to start and then we find we have to stop because all the logistics are not in place.".
The aim, she added, was to get the cull completed within a maximum of four weeks once it did get under way.
Jim Milby, Scottish NFU group secretary in Dumfries and Galloway, said there was growing frustration among farmers. "The announcement that this was going to happen was made almost a week ago now and yet nobody is any further forward about how or when it will begin," he said. "It is the lack of detail that is worrying everyone.
"We are seeing more and more cases of the disease every day and the great fear is that if things are not speeded up, the disease will get out of control and we will lose all the stock in the county."
Slaughter of about 5000 sheep in other areas of Scotland, deemed to have had dangerous contact with animals from Longtown market, did begin this week.
That has allowed farmers north of the Firth of Forth to start applying for licenses to move animals from outlying land back to their farms for welfare reasons. *