'Sick' sheep examined in Scotland
Vets were carrying out tests on a sick sheep in Scotland today amid heightened concerns over foot-and-mouth.
The animal was discovered with “a temperature” at the Lawrie and Symington centre near Lanark, Lanarkshire, this afternoon.
It initially sparked fears of a potential foot-and-mouth outbreak, coming just a few hours after the new case in Surrey.
But the Scottish Government said the sheep in Lanark was not suspected as having foot-and-mouth disease, and vets were continuing to investigate.
No restrictions have been put in place around the market, and it has not been closed, a Government spokesman said.
He said: “We are not treating this as a suspected foot-and-mouth outbreak at this stage.
“As far as we are aware, it is just a sheep with a temperature.
“An investigation is under way which is standard biosecurity practice.”
The spokesman added that it was a legal obligation on farmers to report any suspicious disease.
“The precautionary principle means that any animal showing unusual symptoms is reported and is then the subject of immediate and rigorous investigation by vets from the Animal Health Agency,” he said.
“During the August outbreak there were over 130 such investigations, mostly in England but a handful in Scotland.
“Initial testing proved negative, as did subsequent tests.
“This is what we mean by strict vigilance – looking at every case including the one at Lanark today, however slight the suspicions, and following this up meticulously.
“We must be vigilant against this disease but scaremongering of this kind causes nothing but undue panic and confusion.”
Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead is due to make a statement this afternoon on the latest foot-and-mouth outbreak discovered in Surrey earlier today.
