The Associated Press
LONDON - The
number of foot-and-mouth cases in Britain continued to climb Sunday,
surpassing 890, despite large-scale slaughter and a policy change
permitting the burial of young cow carcasses.
The severity
of the crisis reportedly led Prime Minister Tony Blair to postpone
a general election believed to have been planned for May 3. However,
Blair made no announcement Sunday, despite newspaper and television
reports that he would now wait until June for a nationwide vote.
A new policy
allowing burial of cows younger than 5 years old instead of burning
them should speed up the disposal of thousands of dead animals,
some of which have lingered on farms for three weeks, said Brig.
Alex Birtwistle, who is in charge of the huge slaughter and burial
site in Cumbria, northwest England.
Some 120,000
sheep have been buried at the airfield and 10,000 animals a day
were being culled there, Birtwistle told BBC-TV on Sunday.
He said he
hoped to bring the slaughter-to-disposal time to less than 24
hours within days.
The burial
of cow carcasses had been banned because of concerns that mad
cow disease, the fatal brain-wasting ailment scientists fear can
be transmitted to humans, would spread to the water supply.
The Agriculture
Ministry has determined that the burials do not pose a risk to
the water table or surrounding land, Agriculture Minister Nick
Brown announced Saturday. He insisted Sunday that the highly contagious
disease was "most certainly under control."
Meanwhile,
a new case of foot-and-mouth was confirmed in the southwest county
of Cornwall, which had appeared disease-free for four weeks.
A new outbreak
spelled the end of the Cheltenham Festival, Europe's biggest horse
jump-race meet, which was canceled Sunday when the disease came
within 5 miles of the racecourse.
The races,
originally set for March, was rescheduled for April 17-19 when
the disease was first discovered. The British Horseracing Board
has now canceled the meet.
Foot-and-mouth
disease, which is not harmful to humans, strikes cloven-hoofed
animals such as sheep, pigs and cows. More than 940,000 animals
have been earmarked for slaughter, and 166,000 carcasses were
awaiting disposal.
The slaughter
was taking an emotional toll on veterinarians, said Lt. Col. Gary
Donaldson, leader of the army effort in Durham and Cleveland counties
in the northeast.
"We are
finding them in tears," he said. "Not only are they
killing animals they want to cure, they are also having farmers
in extreme trauma."
The bolt-guns
used to stun animals before slaughter were overheating, and trained
soldiers also were finding the "wholesale slaughter"
traumatic, he said.
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