Cute Calf Helps Limit Livestock Slaughter

After more than 2 million farm animals were slaughtered to stop foot-and-mouth disease, one photogenic calf was credited last week with forcing the British government to change its policy.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown announced that officials would be given discretion on whether it was necessary to carry out the government “firebreak” policy of culling apparently healthy animals on farms surrounding infected properties.

The immediate effect of the change was to spare the life of Phoenix, a calf owned by Devon farmers Philip and Michaela Board.

“It is absolutely fantastic--a ray of light for the farming industry,” said Philip Board, 42, who runs Clarence Farm in Membury, Devon.

Phoenix, born April 13, somehow survived when the Boards’ herd of 15 cattle was slaughtered because of its proximity to an infected farm. She was discovered Monday, after spending five days beside her dead mother.

When officials said they would come back to kill Phoenix, the Boards refused permission and protested. Photos of the white calf graced front pages of the Daily Telegraph and the Times on Wednesday, and telephoned protests flooded Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office.

Conservative lawmaker Tim Yeo charged that the policy change was driven by the image-conscience Blair. Earlier in the week, Yeo said, the government had defended the previous policy, “but then No. 10 [Blair’s office] spin doctors saw newspaper pictures of Phoenix and the policy changed.”

Brown didn’t respond to the gibe but argued that the policy shift was slight.

“This development is not--as some have reported--a relaxation; its purpose is to improve the achievement of the policy by refining the instructions given to staff in the field,” Brown said.

The government, which has proclaimed the foot-and-mouth epidemic under control, eased the policy only for cattle. Sheep and pigs on farms adjacent to infected farms will still be culled, Brown said.

This drastic policy had been imposed in the two hardest-hit areas, Devon in southwest England and Cumbria in the northwest.

“Phoenix is a well-named symbol of hope and rebirth, and it takes a catalyst like that sometimes to bring about the obvious--common sense, which is what we have asked for all along,” said Ian Johnson, regional spokesman for the National Farmers Union.

“An awful lot of animals have probably been slaughtered needlessly. That is a tragedy,” Johnson said.

In the past week, the government has lifted “infected area” restrictions in several localities, including the area near the slaughterhouse northeast of London where the first foot-and-mouth case was confirmed on Feb. 20.

The disease spread nationwide, with 1,479 cases confirmed by Wednesday, and into the Netherlands, France and the Republic of Ireland.

Two weeks ago the government confirmed an average of 16 new cases in Britain each day, compared with an average of 27 the week before.

Professor Roy Anderson, an advisor to the government, said it was a “little bit early” to say the epidemic was beaten, and urged caution about relaxing the policy.

“The decline in cases we have seen over the last few weeks . . . is a direct consequence of the effective implementation of the policy of slaughter,” he said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio.