Calls for foot-and-mouth movement restrictions to relax
(From The Orcadian dated March 15, 2001)

As the limited movement of livestock under licence gets under way this week, calls for further relaxation of restrictions are growing in Orkney.

So far, no cases of foot-and-mouth have been diagnosed in the county, and while everyone is in agreement that precautions to prevent spread of the disease must continue, issues of animal welfare, as well as the potentially disastrous effects on the local tourist industry, are becoming more pressing.

Responding to those pressures, Mr Kenny Slater, secretary of the Orkney Branch of the National Farmers Union of Scotland, expressed confidence that some progress might be made on a regional basis.

"We are confident that things are being looked at," he said.

At present, the licensing scheme which allows local animals to be transported to Orkney Meat for slaughter is operating smoothly with over 100 licences issued by Orkney Islands Council by yesterday morning. However, the licensing of collection centres to enable transportation of consignments of livestock to abattoirs on the Scottish mainland, are currently on hold until broader welfare issues have been addressed.

Mrs Val Cameron, environmental officer for OIC said that they were continuing to emphasise the importance of keeping off farmland, and were asking everyone to keep vehicles and shoes etcetera clean, to avoid any risk of carrying infection.

Meanwhile the Government has given priority to the licensing of stock movements within a limited geographical area, to ease potential welfare problems, such as ewes lambing away from home.

The licences, which are issued by local SERAD offices, fall into two categories:

Mr John Deerness, a senior partner at Northvet confirmed that they had received requests for both kinds of licence. He emphasised that the licences were issued by SERAD, not the vets themselves, but added that for a Local Movement Licence, animals had to be inspected within four hours of them being moved, so it was wise for farmers to check with their vet before quoting a movement date on their application form. To that end, the vets were compiling movement requests from farmers in the Outer Isles, so that days could be set aside for inspections to be carried out on a number of farms in an island on the same day.

However, he added, the final decision on whether to issue these licences fell to local SERAD officials.

Meanwhile fears are growing amongst local tourist businesses, that restrictions brought into force during the outbreak could spell disaster for the local tourist industry. All Historic Scotland sites have been closed to the general public, along with attractions like the Italian Chapel, the Tomb of the Eagles, and wildlife reserves such as local RSPB sanctuaries.

A number of local hoteliers have reported some cancellations already, and many fear that if tourists are prevented from visiting important sites like Skara Brae, many will put off coming to Orkney altogether this year. With such a short season in Orkney, many felt it would be impossible to recoup losses if a ban on access to places of interest were to continue for much longer.

To that effect, a meeting was held on Tuesday at the Pickaquoy Centre between representatives from the tourism and farming industries in Orkney, and OIC and SERAD officials. Orkney Tourist Board said that they aimed to make sure visitors knew that Orkney's tourism industry was "very much open for business" - despite these restrictions, but at the same time give them a realistic idea of how foot-and-mouth would affect their stay in the county. Chief executive, Mr Gareth Crichton explained that ways were being sought to keep board members up to date, so that they could answer queries from potential visitors. They were also providing information at Tourist Information Centres, the board's website, in the "Explore Orkney" brochure, and possibly at departure points such as Scrabster.

He added: "The restrictions in place are an important way to protect Orkney's farmers. If visitor know about them and are realistic about what to expect, then there is every chance we can exceed their expectations.

"That's why we're consulting a wide range of agencies and organisations, as well as people from within the tourism industry itself."

Speaking on Saturday, Mr John Firth, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Orkney and Shetland added his voice to those calling for a relaxation of movement restrictions in Orkney: "Thanks to a combination of good fortune, self-discipline by every farmer in Orkney and restriction of movement, the incubation period for foot-and-mouth to declare itself in Orkney has now passed. For more than ten days Nick Brown has undertaken that where and when slaughtering for the market could be safely resumed. That's now."

Despite any comfort which might be drawn from the passing of this incubation period, residents of North Ronaldsay are taking no chances. Concerns about North Ronaldsay's unique seaweed grazing sheep has prompted a concerted attempt by the local community to keep the disease out.

Dr Kevin Woodbridge, chairman of the North Ronaldsay Community Council, outlined their approach.

He said: "The view we take is that the island is one farm, so we're doing all we can to keep it out."

He added that if foot-and-mouth were to infect stock in the island, the entire flock of North Ronaldsay sheep could be wiped out. Although, he said, there are small flocks of the rare breed of sheep in other parts of the country, from which sufficient sheep might be gleaned to re-establish a flock, the fear would be that, away from North Ronaldsay, different environmental pressures would cause "genetic drift". In other words, North Ronaldsay sheep on mainland Britain might well have lost the ability to survive on seaweed.

He added that following a community council meeting last Friday, residents had agreed to issue an advisory notice asking people not to make non-essential journeys or visit to farms on the mainland, and discouraging visitors to the island. The notice also set down special procedures for the handling of freight to minimise risk of passing on disease, and to conserve the limited stocks of disinfectant available at the island's airfield.

He added: "People are being very sensible. The chiropody service has been run from the surgery instead of doing home visits."

At present, he said, they were discouraging holiday makers to the island from booking in the short-term. Those wishing to come later in the year were still being provisionally booked, until the long-term situation was clarified.