Rural revolt over plans for mass cull

The remorseless escalation of the foot-and-mouth crisis took the Government to the brink of a rural revolt last night as farmers and vets launched fierce resistance to its plans for a mass cull of healthy animals, which is designed to halt the spread of the disease.

The remorseless escalation of the foot-and-mouth crisis took the Government to the brink of a rural revolt last night as farmers and vets launched fierce resistance to its plans for a mass cull of healthy animals, which is designed to halt the spread of the disease.

While pressure mounted on the Government to unveil a multi-million pound aid package for farmers, veterinary surgeons threatened to refuse to carry out the mass slaughter of livestock in Cumbria - one of two areas where the cull is expected to begin next week.

The leadership of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) continued to back the cull.

The majority of farmers in Cumbria said they would not allow the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Maff) to slaughter animals at up to 500 farms, from the Lake District to southern Scotland.

Cumbria Police said officers had confiscated firearms from one Penrith farmer who threatened to shoot any Maff official who tried to come on to his land.

The farmers' anger appeared to take the NFU by surprise. Local officials in Cumbria had supported the cull announced on Thursday of up to 540,000 animals nationwide - including up to 300,000 healthy animals - but by yesterday were opposing it. The lobby group Farmers For Action, which was at the centre of last year's national fuel protests, warned it would take legal action against the cull.

Neil Frame, a veterinary surgeon in Cumbria, said: "The mass slaughter is simply impractical. It will simply take too long to be effective.

"The disease has been catastrophic for farmers in this area. For them it is like being in the trenches in the First World War waiting for the next salvo to come. This will be a needless and crippling blow."

Nick Utting, secretary of the NFU in north Cumbria, said: "Farmers are very frustrated by the proposals to cull what they consider to be clean sheep.

"We have not received any veterinary justification for doing this. There is no justification and really, until there is, we cannot go ahead."

Jim Scudamore, the chief veterinary officer, will meet Cumbrian farmers on Monday to try to avert the rebellion. He will encounter great anger. Richard Hodgson, who farms at Glassonby, east Cumbria, said: "I honestly believe there are going to be riots."

The Government's position was damaged by Nick Brown's confusion over the extent of the cull, which he admitted to as he appealed for farmers to co-operate with the authorities.

The Agriculture Minister promised a major package of aid to help farmers and other people whose businesses have been damaged by the disease once the outbreak was over. Mr Brown said: "We will not abandon them."

He said that he will hold talks about the proposals with the European agriculture commissioner, Franz Fischler, on Monday to iron out how compensation might fall within European regulations.

David Handley, a spokesman for Farmers for Action, accused the Government of pursuing a policy of "ethnic cleansing" while continuing to permit meat imports from countries affected by footand-mouth disease.

Mr Brown said he sympathised with the "absolute horror" faced by farmers but said attempts to halt the cull were ridiculous. He said: "The war we should be fighting is against the virus. We are all on the same side against the virus. Fighting each other would be a ridiculous thing to do.

"I appeal to everyone to work with the Government and to work together to defeat this virus."

Mr Scudamore launched a vigorous defence of the mass cull. He said sheep must be eliminated to prevent thousands of them harbouring hidden disease.

He said: "If they are not removed they will sit there for ever acting as an additional source of disease for cattle.

"It is a terrible decision but these sheep are not perfectly healthy - they have been exposed to the virus and they could be carrying the virus."

Ten new cases were confirmed yesterday, bringing the number of confirmed outbreaks to 261.

The NFU called for a compensation package running to hundreds of millions of pounds. Ben Gill, the president, said the NFU's call centre was taking up to 700 calls a day and some farmers were suicidal. "It's just so soul-devouring. It absorbs every second of every minute of every day," he said.

French farmers' unions initiated legal action yesterday against "persons unknown" for spreading foot-and-mouth disease to the Mayenne area of the country.