Thousands of cattle earmarked for burial in a huge pit in Cumbria were sent for rendering yesterday after concerns were raised about the possible spread of BSE.
As part of the British government's pre-emptive cull to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth, 3,000 cattle were ear marked for burial at the site at a disused airfield at Great Orton.
The carcasses remained in 20 sealed lorries parked at the site for several hours amid fears raised by the Department of Health and some local people that the agent which causes BSE, the prion protein, could leak into the environment.
The government's BSE advisory committee indicated last week that cattle less than five years old posed no threat and could be buried. However, the burial was delayed while officials considered how to dispose of cattle born before August 1st, 1996.
After several hours discussion between government officials, the Ministry of Agriculture said a decision had been taken to send all 3,000 animals for rendering instead of burying them in the pit.
The army's commanding officer at the site, Brig Alex Birtwistle, explained that the delay in deciding how to dispose of the carcasses was due to problems in distinguishing between cattle aged five years and under and older cattle.
While no decision has been taken on a vaccination programme and with latest projections indicating the number of confirmed cases will peak at about 500 a week in mid-April and begin to fall at the end of May, the ministry said the slaughter programme was working.
However, the Conservatives severely criticised the government over the 353,000 backlog of animals identified for slaughter. More than 940,000 animals have been killed, but the backlog of animals waiting to be slaughtered has risen steadily.
The Conservative agriculture spokesman, Mr Tim Yeo, said the failure to clear the backlog presented "clear proof" that the foot-and-mouth crisis was out of control.
"In addition to the devastation wrought in Cumbria and other disease hot spots, there is worrying evidence of geographical spread into other previously uninfected areas," he said. "This is a crisis which would never have reached this desperate state if the government had acted on our suggestions when we made them."
As the number of confirmed cases reached 921 by early last night, organic farmer Mr Peter Kindersley has decided to abandon his legal attempt to stop the government's policy of slaughtering healthy animals. A judge at the High Court in London said last week that Mr Kindersley, who published the Dorling Kindersley series of books and owns a 2,000-acre farm in Berkshire, had an "arguable case". Mr Kindersley said yesterday he had withdrawn the case "due to not wanting to put MAFF under any more pressure. The aim of our action was to put the alternative of vaccination into the public sphere. This has been achieved."
In a separate development, the managing director of the Cheltenham racecourse, Mr Edward Gillespie, said the cancellation of this year's event was "bad news" but he urged race goers to rally round and support the Aintree meeting which begins on Saturday.
The decision to cancel the festival was taken after the confirmation of a new case of foot-and-mouth at the weekend five miles from the Gloucestershire course, which placed the event within an exclusion zone.
"We will refund everybody's tickets for Cheltenham and nobody needs to contact us to get their money, it will be done automatically," Mr Gillespie said.
The Welsh Rural Affairs Minister, Mr Carwyn Jones, has appealed for an end to protests over the disposal of carcasses. There have been demonstrations on Anglesey and in Powys. Mr Jones warned that any obstruction of continuing culls would jeopardise efforts to halt the spread of foot-and-mouth.