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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Farm slaughter restrictions eased | Farm slaughter restrictions eased |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Farmers in England will be allowed to take livestock to slaughter from midnight on Saturday. | Farmers in England will be allowed to take livestock to slaughter from midnight on Saturday. |
| There has been a relaxation of rules following the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak in Surrey, chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds said. | There has been a relaxation of rules following the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak in Surrey, chief veterinary officer Debby Reynolds said. |
| Farmers in Scotland and Wales have been able to take their animals to slaughter since Thursday. | Farmers in Scotland and Wales have been able to take their animals to slaughter since Thursday. |
| However, livestock can still not be traded or moved for any other reason. Northern Ireland is not affected. | However, livestock can still not be traded or moved for any other reason. Northern Ireland is not affected. |
| 'Proportionate response' | |
| The lifting of the restriction applies only to animals outside the surveillance zone currently imposed around the infected premises in Surrey. | |
| Dr Reynolds said: "We continue to take a risk-based, staged approach to movement controls. | |
| "It is essential that all animal keepers, hauliers, abattoirs and those responsible for collection centres follow stringent bio-security measures and all licence conditions." | |
| Farmers can now move cattle, sheep and pigs to a listed abattoir or from farms by an approved collection centre or slaughter market. | |
| The movement ban was put in place across Britain when another case of foot-and-mouth disease was discovered in cattle on land in Egham on Wednesday. | |
| In what the Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones described as a "proportionate" response, Wales and Scotland later eased the restrictions to allow farmers to take their animals directly to slaughter. | |
| Department of Environment sources say a total of 940 cattle and pigs have been culled so far in the latest outbreak. | |
| The discovery brought the total number of farms where the disease has been found in 2007 to four. |