Surrey sheep test positive for foot-and-mouth

Tests have confirmed a third case of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey in England, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said today.

Sheep on a farm in the same area as two other cases had tested positive for the disease, Defra said.

The animals on the farm in the Egham area were already being slaughtered as a precaution.

Neighbours named the affected farm as The Klondyke, owned by Sally Hepplethwaite, who keeps a small herd of cattle, sheep and other farmyard animals as pets.

The latest case, which is within the Protection Zone in Surrey, came just as the outbreak appeared to have been contained.

Farmers outside the stricken area were permitted to start taking their animals for slaughter again on Sunday after transport restrictions were relaxed by Defra.

Before last night, no further instances of the disease had been reported since slaughtered cattle were found to be infected at two farms near Egham last week.

The new cases are thought to involve the same strain of the disease as that found in animals culled last month at the village of Normandy, near Guildford.

A Health and Safety Executive probe found the disease may have escaped from a leaky pipe running between a Government-run Animal health laboratory and privately-run pharmaceuticals firm, Merial Animal Health, at Pirbright, three miles from the original outbreak at Normandy.

Shadow Defra secretary Peter Ainsworth said: “This is disturbing news. All of us, especially in the farming community have been hoping that the outbreak is now over.

“It was caused by negligence by the Government and its agencies. We have to hope that the Government will now be competent in dealing with the clean up.

“The big question that still remains is how foot-and-mouth could ever have escaped from a Government licensed laboratory in the first place?”