New Zealand authorities cautious on foot-and-mouth claim

Police rushed to an island near New Zealand’s biggest city today after the prime minister received a letter claiming foot-and-mouth disease had been spread among thousands of livestock there, though officials said it probably was a hoax.

An outbreak of the livestock disease in New Zealand could devastate the country’s agriculture-dependent economy, and Senior Agriculture Ministry official Barry O’Neil said the letter was “probably a hoax, but is being taken very seriously”.