Wandering crofter loses cull appeal

18 April 2001



Wandering crofter loses cull appeal

By Alistair Driver

A CROFTER at the centre of a foot-and-mouth scare in the Scottish Highlands has lost an appeal to stop livestock being culled under disease controls.

Chris Shepherd, from Strathtongue, Sutherland, had asked Lord Carloway at the Court of Session in Edinburgh to halt the cull of his animals.

Mr Shepherd, who runs six crofts at Strathnaver and Strathtongue, had wanted the animals kept alive pending a judicial review of a decision to kill the livestock.

The Scottish Executive had ordered the slaughter of 350 sheep and 75 cattle on Mr Shepherds Strathtongue farm after he visited an infected area of Cumbria.

Jim Walker president of the Scottish National Farmers Union said it beggared belief that Mr Shepherd could have visited an infected area.

“Despite all the warnings that weve put out and despite all the advice, we get someone who has been down to Cumbria visiting people,” he said.

Mr Shepherd, however, insisted he did nothing wrong. He said he did not go on to the farm in Cumbria, but met business partners about a mile away.

Meanwhile, lawyers may try and get a judicial review on behalf of another Scottish producer who failed to stop his livestock from being culled.

Peter Buckley of Westerhall Farm, Langholm, Dumfriesshire, lost his case, during which he claimed that the cull breached European Council Directives.