§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether farmed deer are tested for tuberculosis or any other disease as a routine.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonFarmed deer are not required to be routinely tested for any disease, but the industry has been asked to consider a voluntary deer health scheme based on tuberculosis attestation to which could be added monitoring for other diseases.
§ Mr. William RossTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish a table in theOfficial 263W Report showing for each of the last five years how many deer and of what species were imported into the United Kingdom; how many were imported for the purpose of deer farming or the improvement of stocks of British deer; from what countries they came; what procedures were
Country of origin Year Species Austria Denmark West Germany Hungary Norway Poland Sweden Yugoslavia Yearly total 1984 Red 21 — 157 44 — — 29 — 270 Reindeer — — — — 19 — — — 1985 Red 6 20 217 141 — — 106 9 551 Fallow — — 3 12 — — 37 — 1986 Red 14 32 75 200 — — — 35 356 1987 Red 50 — 13 — — — — 32 95 1988 Red — 6 77 — — 3 — — 123 Mesopotamian — — 9 — — — — — Fallow — — — 28 — — — — Country totals 91 58 551 425 19 3 172 76 1,395 These deer were required to undergo a period of at least 60 days on-farm isolation on their premises of origin and, depending on the disease situation in the country of origin, a further period of not less than 14 days in officially supervised pre-export quarantine. Each consignment had to be accompanied by a health certificate signed by an official veterinary officer of the exporting country confirming that these requirements had been met and, depending on the disease status of the country of origin, that the deer concerned had been tested, with negative results, for the following diseases: avian and bovine tuberculosis, brucella abortus, foot and mouth disease, blue tongue, epizootic haemorrhagic diseast and leptospirosis. There are no tuberculosis strains which are specific to deer.