§ Baroness Masham of Iltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What owners of stock should do with fallen stock when new regulations come into force next year which prohibit them from burying animals which have died. [HL805]
§ Lord WhittyThe usual routes for disposal of fallen stock are by rendering, incineration or taking to an approved knacker or hunt kennel. These will continue to be permitted when the new EU legislation, the Animal By-Products Regulation, applies in member states from 30 April 2003. The regulation will ban the on-farm burial or burning of animal carcasses. The only exceptions from the ban would be for remote areas (parts of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland) and during outbreaks of notifiable disease if there were a lack of capacity at rendering plants and incinerators or if transport of the carcasses would spread disease.
Under the TSE (England) Regulations 2002 there is a legal obligation to notify the competent authority or their agents of the discovery of all fallen bovines aged over 24 months other than those killed for welfare reasons. The agents in this case are Animal Handling Facilities Ltd (AHF). Once they have been notified of the fallen animal they will arrange for the animal to be collected, sampled and the carcass destroyed free of charge.