A foot and mouth alert has been reported in Bray, County Wicklow. Veterinary inspectors were unhappy with the condition of two lambs after slaughter at a local abattoir in the town. Blood samples will be sent to the animal health laboratory at Pirbright in Surrey tomorrow. The Department of Agriculture says that it is not overly concerned about the situation at the moment.
Meanwhile, a farm at Knockanally, near Enfield in County Meath, has been restricted because sheep there were possibly in contact with another farm in Longwood where suspected smuggled animals were recently destroyed. The restriction is a precaution. Blood samples are being analysed at the State Laboratories in Abbottstown but officials say that the sheep are not showing any symptoms.
Earlier, a farm at Leugh, near Thurles in County Tipperary, was placed under restriction after it was found that ten cows on the farm had originated in the North. It is thought that they crossed the border before the foot and mouth crisis began in mid-February. The farm remains under observation while Department of Agriculture officials decide whether the ten animals should be destroyed or if all 60 cows on the holding should be put down.
In a separate development, a "small number" of sheep, which were found wandering in the Kiltyclogher area of North Leitrim, have been slaughtered on the instructions of the Department of Agriculture. According to a spokesman for the Department, the animals were slaughtered as a precaution because of the proximity of the area in which they were found to the border.
