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Thousands of carcasses burned as Britain battles foot-and-mouth crisis
LONDON, Feb 26 (AFP) -
British farmers on Monday burned thousands of animals in a grim battle to stem the deepening crisis over foot-and-mouth disease and limit the impact of Europe's latest food scare.

Despite their desperate efforts, the outbreak grew worse as the disease was discovered at more sites, raising the total to 12.

The agriculture ministry on Monday confirmed five new cases at farms in northeast, west and southwest England.

On Sunday a farmers' union official warned the outbreak could turn into a "nightmare scenario".

On Monday, his fears seemed to be justified. Not only has the disease jumped species from pigs to cattle and sheep, but it has also spread across the country.

Meanwhile, foot-and-mouth found at a farm in Devon in the southwest owned by a sheep dealer who exports animals to Europe prompted fears that the disease might have already spread across the Channel.

Commuters on the M25 London ring road could see billowing clouds of smoke produced by two 100-metre (-yard) long piles of dead pigs and cattle burning on a farm at Little Warley, southeast England.

The outlines of blackened bones, piled high and silhouetted against the intense orange and yellow of the fires, formed a grisly sight.

The air was filled with the smell of charred carcasses, which included stock from the farm's neighbouring Cheale Meats abattoir -- where the first case of foot-and-mouth was confirmed last week.

A lane between the abattoir and farm, along which the bodies were transported on Sunday, was thick with the smell of disinfectant, sprayed behind each container lorry used to shift the dead animals.

Agriculture minister Nick Brown told parliament on Monday that the government is urgently tracing all exports of animals from suspect areas to EU states, adding that he would update the council of agriculture ministers on Tuesday.

Britain banned all exports of meat and livestock last Wednesday.

Chief veterinary officer Jim Scudamore said almost 7,000 animals had either been or were about to be slaughtered in a bid to stop the disease spreading, including 1,800 cattle, 1,600 pigs and 3,500 sheep.

"Farmers' hopes go up in flames" is how the Guardian newspaper summed up the latest developments, a sombre view shared by most of the national press on Monday.

Farms across the country have laid out bales of straw sprayed with disinfectant at their entrances in an attempt to fend off the disease.

The outbreak is seen as a potential threat to the famous Six Nations tournament, with the Irish rugby authorities warning they were monitoring the situation before a Wales-Ireland game on Saturday in Cardiff.

They fear Irish supporters could come away from the city's Millennium Stadium with the virus on their shoes.

Meanwhile, lessons have been suspended in a number of British schools located in agricultural areas where the disease has been found.

The army has cancelled manoeuvres in Scotland and north England involving soldiers parachuting into fields.

And the powerful Contryside Alliance lobby group postponed until early May a planned March 18 demonstration against a ban on hunting with hounds. Tens of thousands had been due to take part.

Several zoos have closed their doors to visitors while ramblers have been urged to stay out of the countryside.

The latest confirmed cases come as a blow to hopes that Britain's first foot-and-mouth outbreak in 20 years had been contained by prompt action ordered by the government.

Haunted by the country's BSE crisis in the 1990s, the authorities have moved swiftly, imposing a seven-day ban on all livestock movement last Friday.

Foot-and-mouth disease, which causes blistering on animals' mouth and legs, poses little danger to humans, but is highly contagious among pigs, cattle, sheep and goats.

EU agriculture ministers, meeting in Brussels to thrash out a solution to the lingering farming crisis over mad cow disease, were expected to give equal or greater attention to foot-and-mouth disease, a last-minute agenda addition.

An increasing number of countries are taking action to protect themsleves against the British foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Switzerland said on Monday it had banned all imports of British animals. Poland, Russia and Singapore had already imposed their own bans.

More than 3,000 animals, mainly sheep and deer, were slaughtered in the Netherlands over the weekend as a precautionary measure, though no foot and mouth cases were detected.

The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia announced it would destroy some 400 sheep, also as a precautionary measure, after confirming that some animals imported into the state had come from a British farm where the disease had been detected.

Belgium banned the movement of sheep and goats on Saturday, while French authorities have located some 47,000 recently imported British sheep and are monitoring them.

But French authorities said Monday that foot-and-mouth disease had not yet surfaced in the country.

Veterinary officials in Italy and Denmark said they too were on high alert, but had not yet uncovered any suspect animals recently imported from Britain.

Stockholm has banned imports of uncooked meat, milk products or other products from hoof animals by travellers returning to Sweden from Britain.

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