The UK’s Foot-and-Mouth Epidemic

On 19 February 2001, a vet carrying out a routine inspection at an abattoir in the south of England spotted a suspected case of foot-and-mouth. Within days the highly infectious disease had spread to other parts of country and it was clear the government was struggling to control it. It was the first major foot-and-mouth outbreak in Britain for more than 30 years. Millions of livestock were slaughtered in the months that followed and the final cost to the UK was estimated at well over $10 billion.

Witness speaks to Peter Frost-Pennington, one of the vets who responded to the crisis, and Phil Heard, a farmer from Devon.

(Photo: Smoke rises from hundreds of cattle and sheep infected with foot-and-mouth disease being incinerated at a farm in Lockerbie, Scotland. Credit: Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)