Walkers cleared of blame for outbreak outbreak
Walkers cleared of blame for outbreak outbreak
By Isabel Davies
THE Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has rebuffed suggestions that an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease near Settle could have been caused by ramblers.
Andrew Osborne, a spokesman for the national park, said the disease emerged on May 10 but the footpaths in the area were not re-opened until May 4. This showed that the disease must have been incubating before walkers returned to the area. "There is no way that the opening of rights of way could be linked to the outbreak."
Possible source
A spokesman from MAFF said officials had not ruled out any possible source and were continuing to investigate the outbreak which has so far led to culling on thirty farms.
Stephen Hunter, regional operations director, said: "One line of investigation is whether humans or livestock on one or more of the affected premises had come into contact with another infected areas in the UK."
Whatever the cause the outbreak, it is a tragedy for local farmers who had expressed their determination to keep the disease at bay.
Less than three weeks ago, Thomas Lord of Lower Winskill Farm, Langcliffe who is one of the farmers affected, told farmers weekly (News, May 4) he was concerned about a walled lane which runs through the farm being re-opened. because it could compromise his biosecurity measures.
Meanwhile, the NFU and Ramblers Association have launched a joint campaign to get safe footpaths re-opened. A joint statement is being sent to local councils asking that footpaths are assessed as quickly as possible to meet the influx of tourists to the countryside over the spring bank holiday (May 28). *