The title of this article is "Remembering Foot and Mouth in Cornwall 10 Years On". The article is published on BBC's website and the author is not specified. It was published on February 15, 2011 and can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cornwall/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9393000/9393169.stm
The article talks about how an outbreak of foot and mouth disease among livestock ten years caused farmers to have to burn, or shoot, their animals. People were afraid on infection from their animals, so they were forced to kill them. One such person states "I was devastated. I'd reared the lot and thought I'd worked for nothing all those years, it was like losing one of the family." All of the evidence of years of work had to be destroyed because of this disease. Now, ten years later, farmers worry about the disease returning. If it did, it would devestate them, as cuts in the government agency responsible for preventing such incidents's budget are in place. The government denies that this would be a problem, however, saying that there are many more measures taken to prevent this from happening.
I think that it wouls be horrible to have to kill all those animals because of the disease. Not only had you worked hard bringing them up, but they didn't do anything wrong. We learned in class that living in close quarters with animals can expose humans to disease. This is an example of measures taken to prevent that. It is unfortunate that the measures had to be so drastic and tragic.
When reading the article the one thing I thought about was Texas Cow Fever, which had similar implications. Also not only does putting down the animals seem like putting down a member of the family, it must have been devastating to the economy as well, as cattle provide many dairy products. Not to mention all the wasted time in raising them. It makes sense that the government has to make cuts to something that was a problem 10 years ago, but it would still be nice to have some countermeasure in place.
ReplyDeleteThis disease has done more than just infect people who come into contact with it, it has also taken away their way of life. Many of these farmers have had to start over not only once but twice now. Also their is an emotional toll that this spread of foot and mouth disease by killing their own animals. I liked how you made the connection to what we learned in class about "living in close quarters with animals can expose humans to disease". I agree that something needed to be done to prevent this disease from spreading, it just is sad that it has so many negative effects on the people and animals.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very sad. I couldnt imagine having to kill an animal, let alone one that I have raised. Also it is really bad that the government cut the founding for the farmeres if this disease ever came back. I think that the government would be the one place that would want to help these poor farmers out becuase it is not their fault that their animals came down with this disease. I like how you made the connection to what we have been talking about in class, how living in close quarters with animals can make humans more exposed to the disease. This article is the perfect example of this.
ReplyDeleteThis article is quite upsetting. It was devastating to hear what would happen to the farmers, who had to kill their livestock and start over from scratch. I personally could not have killed my farm animals because I would have been too attached to them. Abby you made a nice connection to in class about how living in close quarters with animals can expose humans to diseases. Hopefully the government can help these poor farmers.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would be very sad to have to kill one of their animals for something they didn't even do. It just shows that disease is a very real part of life and is completely out of our control. It's pretty scary when you think about it but it's something that we have to deal with and have learned and are continuing to learn how to handle ourselves when an outbreak of a disease does happen.
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