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'Foot and Mouth Disease in Cumbria - 2001'
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Aerial photo by Simon Ledingham. |
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Aerial photo by Simon Ledingham. |
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From February 2001 through to September 2001 hundreds of farms throughout Cumbria were struck with foot and mouth disease. The exact numbers of animals affected will never be publicly admitted, but informed guesses suggest some 20,000,000 animals were killed throughout the UK, many of them healthy, in an attempt to stop the spread of disease. This website devoted much effort to trying to bring information from all sources to the public's attention, since tourism in the area was discouraged and in many areas - forbidden. This had a devastating effect on many rural businesses, who depended on visitors for their income. It included diaries and pictures from people affected by the crisis, and hundreds of links. |
These webpages have now closed, but four examples and a picture are left for those who are interested:
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Aerial photo by Simon Ledingham. |
Great Orton Airfield - the resting place of countless farm animals from the foot and mouth episode, despatched and buried in large rectangular pits, carried out under the efficient auspices of the British Army. The place is permanently monitored for seepage.
In total 466,312 carcasses, comprising 448,508 sheep, 12,085 cattle and 5,719 pigs were buried between late March and the 7th of May 2001 in 26 trenches.
A hidden wall reaching 12 metres deep surrounds the graves to act as a barrier to any seepage of fluid from the carcasses. Up to three tanker loads of fluid are still (2006) being removed from the site to a waste treatment works every day – 240 cubic metres a week.
DEFRA are now trying to promote the site as a tourist attraction - called 'Watchtree'.
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to the so-called Watchtree 'Nature Reserve'. |
An online version of Quita's book 'Fields of Fire' gives a chronological collection of the main events, commentary, views and feelings arising from the 2001 crisis.
Several books have been published documenting the crisis, and peoples thoughts on it :
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Behind Chained Gates - By Moira Linaker
Paperback 151 pages (March 2004), Publisher: Hayloft, ISBN: 1904524168. A very human story of an ordinary woman dealing with a lifetime of extraordinary events, including her protest at what she saw as heavy handed and ill-informed bureaucracy in the fight against the unseen and deadly opponent of foot and mouth disease. More information, and reviews, and also Moira's website. |
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To Bid Them Farewell: A Foot & Mouth Diary - By Adam Day
Paperback 247 pages (January 2004), Publisher: Hayloft, ISBN: 1904524109. This powerful book on the foot and mouth crisis is by well-known Lake District livestock auctioneer Adam Day, who was as closely involved with the outbreak as anybody working in the county at the time and whose anger at how it was handled comes through on every page. More information, and reviews. |
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Foot and Mouth Heart and Soul
Paperback 208 pages (23 November, 2001), Publisher: Small Sister, ISBN: 0954154703 A Collection of Personal Accounts of the Foot and Mouth Outbreak in Cumbria 2001 edited by Caz Graham of BBC Radio Cumbria. It tells the story of foot and mouth in Cumbria in the words of people who know how it’s really been: farmers, hoteliers, a GP, a slaughter man, school children, help-line workers and many others. |
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Fields of Fire - By Jacquita Maria Allender
Paperback 152 pages, published (2002) by the author, ISBN: 0954363809. Quita, a familiar name from the Smartgroups e-mail network/website on Foot and Mouth, has edited and self-published a chronological collection of the main events, commentary, views and feelings arising from the 2001 crisis. |
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The Year of the Pyres: The 2001 Foot and Mouth Epidemic - By Judith Cook
Paperback 192 pages (November 2001), publisher: Mainstream Publishing; ISBN: 1840185503. The Year of The Pyres follows the story of the epidemic from day one until the time of writing. It documents how mistake after mistake was made initially, thus helping the disease to spread; how, for weeks, Agriculture Minister Nick Brown and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) kept on telling the country that everything was under control - until the water closed over their heads and they lost the plot. |
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The Death of British Agriculture - By Richard North
Paperback 320 pages (September, 2001), publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd, ISBN: 0715631446. Even before the foot and mouth epidemic British agriculture was already in its death throes. Struggling under the onslaught of successive crises - the effects of the Common Agricultural Policy and the bureaucratic demands of the EU; food scares from salmonella to BSE; the spread of intensive farming and the concentration of buying power in the hands of the retail giants - British farming has been brought to its knees. |
Some FMD Links :
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Page last changed 16 July 2006.
