One year on

Outbreak...

The headlines in the Evening Press on Tuesday, February 20 2001 reveal how blissfully unaware we all were of the disaster about to sweep the countryside, turning it into a virtual no-go area and costing farming and the rural economy millions.

In Ryedale, victims of the previous autumn's floods were angry they were to be barred by the Environment Agency from a meeting to set a timetable for flood defences at Malton and Norton.

Homeowners were looking forward to cut-price home loans after a leading mortgage bank cut its interest rates by 0.75 per cent. And an accident report into the air crash in which jockey Frankie Dettori suffered a broken ankle revealed how fellow jockey Ray Cochrane, who dragged him from the wreckage of the burning aircraft, was beaten back by flames when he tried to rescue the trapped pilot.

Yet already, officials were coming to terms with the shocking news that a routine veterinary inspection of an Essex abattoir had revealed foot and mouth symptoms in 27 pigs. By the following day, the story had broken - sending a farming industry already hammered by BSE, swine fever, floods and a slump in prices into panic.

'Farms in Foot and Mouth Scare' said the Evening Press on Wednesday, February 21. Already, there was speculation one of the infected pigs had come from a farm in Yorkshire. The nightmare had begun.

Disease spreads...

By next day, Thursday, February 22, a complete ban had been placed on the export of live animals, meat and dairy products, and the spotlight had moved to a farm near Goole - Vandon Lodge at Hook - as MAFF officials sought desperately to trace the source of the disease. Movement of animals in and out of the farm was banned.

Attention quickly shifted to a farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland as the battle to stop the disease spreading gathered pace. Hunts were cancelled, ramblers were urged to stay away from the countryside and strict precautions were put in place at livestock markets. The first pleas for shoppers not to panic buy meat were issued.

By Monday, February 26, farms across North and East Yorkshire were in a state of virtual siege. Postmen were being asked to leave mail at farm gates, all but essential deliveries were cancelled, and signs were sprouting everywhere urging walkers to stay off farmland. The mass incineration of thousands of carcasses in Northumberland continued, but despite precautions, the outbreak reached Devon.

The disease spread rapidly.

On Tuesday, February 27 new outbreaks were confirmed in Anglesey, Lancashire, Durham and Northamptonshire, bringing the total number of confirmed outbreaks nationwide to 16. The Government began to talk of shutting footpaths, but confusingly was also considering easing the ban on livestock movements so some animals could be transported direct to abattoirs. A hundred workers at Malton Bacon Factory were sent home.

On March 1, City of York Council closed all footpaths which cut across farmland - but nationally the daily toll of new cases continued to rise. Six on March 2, nine on March 3. Then, on March 8, foot and mouth finally came to Yorkshire. Farmers across the region were put on alert after it was found on a farm in Wensleydale.

By March 10, the number of cases nationwide had risen to 135. A week later, three fresh outbreaks in Yorkshire, two near Hawes and one near Burtersett, brought the total number of cases in the county to five. On March 19, chief veterinary officer Jim Scudamore was greeted with a slow handclap by farmers in Cumbria. The day before, 28 new cases across the country in a single day had brought the total nationally to 329.

The headline in the Evening Press on March 28 said it all: Now It's Here. Sheep at Langton near Malton and at Husthwaite near Easingwold were slaughtered in a 'precautionary cull'. The following day, a pyre for hundreds of cattle was lit at a farm near Northallerton.

On March 30, the Archbishop of York led calls for Tony Blair to delay the General Election, scheduled for May 3. The Prime Minister eventually bowed to the inevitable and did so on April 2. In an attempt to convince the world British tourism was open for business, he hit the tourist trail, arriving in York on April 6. Three days later, the disease reached Ruswarp, near Whitby.

Three more cases were confirmed north of Northallerton on April 18, bringing the total number of cases in North Yorkshire to 17.

But nationally, at last, there was evidence of a slowdown in spread of the disease. The Government's chief scientific adviser David King declared on April 20 the epidemic was now 'fully under control'.

The lull...

By April 26, the Government was announcing a relaxation of its slaughter policy, and by May 3 Tony Blair announced the worst of the disease was over. He set June 7 as the date for the general election. Farming leaders urged caution, but on May 18 agriculture chiefs celebrated a milestone - the first full day with no new confirmed cases

Threat to N Yorks...

On May 28, just as many farmers in the region were beginning to breathe again, four new cases of the disease were confirmed in the Settle area.

The Great Yorkshire Show was cancelled, and on June 2, in an attempt to contain the renewed outbreak, restrictions on movement of livestock were extended around recent outbreaks.

At the beginning of June, MAFF was scrapped in favour of a new Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

A large-scale blood-testing programme began in parts of North Yorkshire on June 7 - but the following day, the county's foot and mouth crisis took a sudden turn for the worse, with six new cases confirmed in the Settle area.

A day later, on June 9, a case was confirmed at Westerdale, in the heart of the North York Moors. Moors farmers held their breath.

Fortress N Yorks...

By June 14, Brigadier Andrew Farquhar, the York army chief in charge of the military operation to eradicate the disease, warned North Yorkshire was on a 'knife edge', with the possibility that foot and mouth could spread to the pig and cattle populations of the Vale of York and East Yorkshire.

"We've got outbreaks where we were frankly not expecting them," he said.

More cases were confirmed over the next few days - near Whitby and, on July 7, in the Vale of York near Thirsk and again near Whitby, bringing the total in the county to more than 100. Vale of York MP Anne McIntosh spoke of the "climate of fear" among the area's farming community.

By July 21, the number of cases in the county had risen to 118.

Two days later the Government created 'Fortress North Yorkshire' - a new 'bio-security zone' centred around Thirsk designed to halt spread of the disease by imposing the tightest clamp-downs anywhere in the country.

On July 30, a mass blood-testing programme began in North Yorkshire. The next day, patrols took to the county's roads to enforce tough disinfection measures. But the number of cases continued to grow and, on August 2, a staff memo from the Central Science laboratory at Sand Hutton revealed the nightmare scenario - the possibility of a major outbreak in East Yorkshire hitting 730,000 pigs, 126,000 sheep and 65,000 cattle.

On August 6, however, there was encouraging news. Blood tests on the first 12 flocks of sheep tested came back negative. On August 8, after four days without a single new case, three more were confirmed in the Thirsk and Whitby areas. But suddenly it became clear the worst was over. The last case in North Yorkshire was confirmed on August 18.

Sting in the tail...

The virus caused one last scare. On August 24, a new case was confirmed in Northumberland - the first there for nearly 12 weeks. Strict controls were imposed there after six more cases in three days.

By September 4, officials confirmed the 2,000th case of the disease, at Cumbria. But by September 14, 'Fortress North Yorkshire' conditions were lifted, and gradually restrictions on movement of livestock began to be relaxed. By October 10, the first full week with no new cases anywhere in the country was hailed.

Aftermath...

The all-clear was officially given on the stroke of New Year's Day. But a week later, the devastating impact on the rural economy of North Yorkshire was revealed. Figures released by the Countryside Agency showed more than £250m was wiped off the rural economy in Yorkshire and the Humber.

On January 29, the official report of the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food, chaired by Sir Donald Curry, concluded the food and farming industries in the UK were 'unsustainable' and called for sweeping reforms.

Updated: 11:44 Wednesday, February 20, 2002