Two timber merchants were caught up in a political storm over the foot and mouth crisis this week when they said Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF) officials had asked them about the availability of wood for cattle pyres before the current outbreak started.
Fran Talbot of Staffordshire merchant C A Talbot & Son, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday that a MAFF official had telephoned in early February to ‘update records’.
The official asked whether the company could supply old railway sleepers for pyres in the event of a foot and mouth outbreak.
After the first case was notified on February 19, Mrs Talbot thought the call had been ‘strange’. She had spoken to other merchants who had also had calls.
Tory MP for Eddisbury (Cheshire) Stephen O’Brien cranked up the pressure on the government by tabling a written question to MAFF asking for an explanation.
Timber merchant TG Norman of Cumbria was the other firm named by Mr O’Brien as having received a MAFF call before the outbreak. Mr Norman, under siege from press calls, declined to comment.
A MAFF spokesperson explained that the calls were part of a routine foot and mouth planning exercise in January, conducted by its Stafford-based Animal Health Office. ‘They are outbreak control exercises based on foot and mouth because that is the worst case,’ he said.
He added: ‘We had absolutely no prior warning of the foot and mouth disease outbreak.’
Meanwhile, Ponteland timber merchant Stan Dawson has been supplying large quantities of wood for pyres, including those at the farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall, the confirmed source of the outbreak.
