UK vets warn of bluetongue threat

The actions of some ''thoughtless and selfish'' farmers are placing the entire UK livestock industry at risk from a recurrence of the 2007 bluetongue outbreak, according to warnings from vets.

New figures seen by vets sitting on animal disease stakeholder groups reveal a dramatic increase in livestock imports this year, with imports for the first three months already exceeding total levels for 2009.

With cattle coming in from parts of Europe where the bluetongue infection has been rife, the vets believe this could be opening the UK up to new outbreaks. Their fears are exacerbated by separate figures showing that the number of UK livestock farmers vaccinating against bluetongue has declined rapidly this year.

In a letter to the Veterinary Record, figures from organisations representing cattle, sheep, and goat vets said bluetongue was significantly more likely to be brought into the UK by imports than by windborne spread and claimed the importers were placing the whole industry at risk.

''The thoughtless and selfish actions of the few could have disastrous consequences for the many,'' they wrote. They said these movements should be ''strongly discouraged'' and urged fellow vets to motivate clients to continue to vaccinate.

One of the authors, Paul Roger, a sheep consultant from North Yorkshire and member of the Sheep Veterinary Society, said bluetongue appeared to have dropped off people's radar. While cases in Europe fell last year, the disease was still at large in France and ''within spitting distance'' of the Channel, he said.

The UK's designation as a high risk bluetongue area, meaning there is no requirement for animals imported from other high risk areas to be vaccinated or tested on entry, increases this risk, he said.

While the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) does voluntarily test imported livestock there was still a risk a pregnant animal with an infected foetus could bring the disease in, he said.