February 29, 2008

Defra launches free animal disease news alert service
 

Defra's Animal Health department has announced the launching of a free news alert service to keep people in pace with the latest developments on notifiable animal diseases.
 

Subscribers to the service will receive alerts on up to five notifiable animal diseases, which are FMD, bluetongue, bird flu, Newcastle disease and classical swine fever.

The alerts can be received through a telephone's voicemail, texting, fax or email.

"The new subscription service means our customers can choose the way they receive information and can choose which disease or diseases they want to be updated about," said Glenys Stacey, chief executive of Animal Health.

Animal Health has other channels to keep the farming community and stakeholders updated on notifiable animal diseases, which includes website, information line and instant messaging system, and the new service complements these channels.

"A disease outbreak is a difficult time and it is vitally important that livestock keepers can access accurate information as quickly as possible," said Stacey.

However, Stacey has acknowledged that not everyone they need to target have been targeted despite the significant improvements in communications.

The news alert service is available to everyone, with its main target as the farming community.