the culling of farmers’ livelihoods seem to have been overpriced. Clearer
communication from these bodies would have lessened the strain upon a struggling
community.
All communities felt the effects of MAFF’s attempts to halt FMD under their
measures. Many recall the desolation of the countryside caused by the pyres of
burning animals. A study by Lancaster University into the health and social
consequences of FMD interviewed an unnamed local teacher from Cumbria; worried
about the well-being of the children in her care, she and other teachers at the school
decided to restrict outdoor time for students. She describes how the smell of burning animals was causing the students to gag. 17 Gordon Savage recalls the effect the
smells of both the pyres and heaps of dead animals had upon his daughter and son-
in- law, who took over the tenancy of Savage’s farm after he retired. He also details
the worrying weight loss of his son-in-law Geoff. “Geoff seems to have lost about a
stone of weight since Saturday…Geoff and Jane could not sleep for the smell for
dead stock… Will they take the carcasses away?... Both Geoff and Jane face any food because of the smell”. 18 Savage’s concerns for his son -in-law Geoff show the
indirect physical cost of FMD causing weight loss and loss of appetite in humans.
The tourism sector in rural Britain had been growing exponentially over the
twentieth century to the point where it outweighed the agricultural communities economically, at least in these areas. 19 Much like Coronavirus, FMD caused the mass closure of businesses across Britain. Many farmers used the hospitality sector to create additional cash flow, such as beds, breakfasts, and farm stay holidays. 20
Due to the highly contagious nature of FMD, strict quarantine measures were
brought in to try and curb the spread of the disease; these were both implemented at
a local and national level. Footwear, clothes, luggage and even vehicles needed to be disinfected before access to infected areas, either in or out, was allowed. 21 This
led to most walking trails and footpaths across Britain being closed. It also
17 Mort, Maggie, Dr Ian Convery, Dr Cathy Bailey, Josephine Baxter ‘The Health and Social Consequences of the 2001 Foot & Mouth Disease Epidemic in North Cumbria’, The Institute for Health, (Lancaster Uni: 2004) p.47. 18 Gordon Savage dairy entry in, Graham, Foot, and Mouth, p.19. 19 Woods, A Manufactured Plague , p.141. 20 Beirman, Restoring Tourism Destinations , p.174. 21 Ibid.
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