Foot and Mouth Disease: Wild Deer (Hansard, 2 May 2001)

§ Baroness Hayman

Our current veterinary risk assessment concludes that infected deer could transmit foot and mouth disease to susceptible livestock during the clinical stages of the disease. However, they are unlikely to represent a longer term risk. In the event of an outbreak of the disease in a feral herd, susceptible livestock likely to come into contact with the herd could be housed if they were normally confined in fields. However, attempts to round up and confine livestock normally grazed on moorland or other open spaces, or attempts to cull deer could lead to increased spread of the disease.