Alleged sabotage at Armagh farm
Thursday, 7 January 2010 17:57Police in Northern Ireland are investigating an apparently deliberate attempt to infect a herd of cattle with a harmful disease.
A foetus calf infected with brucellosis was left near livestock in a field at Lislea, in Co Armagh.
The still-born animal had been cut open and cattle feed had been scattered into the carcass in an apparent effort to encourage the grazing herd to stick their heads into it.
Brucellosis is a disease that causes livestock to abort offspring.
The Stormont Agriculture Minister, Michele Gildernew, said it was a despicable act which could put the Brucellosis Control Programme in jeopardy.
The Minister said that her officials would use DNA evidence in an attempt to trace the culprit.
Laboratory testing for brucellosis in the foetus had given a positive result, and the minister said that the DNA samples taken from the foetus and the bacterium itself will be analysed making the future genetic identification of the source of the infected foetus and the strain of the bacteria is possible.
