FMD Yorkshire
3 August 2001	Biosecurity Zone announced in Yorkshire
As the outbreak wanes, concentrated efforts are being made to eradicate the disease from the remaining clusters. In northern Yorkshire, based around the town of Thirsk, a 'biosecurity zone' has been set up to intensively monitor and disinfect countryside movement, with staff and volunteers from all over the country.
Amid fears that infection may spread from locally-infected sheep to the UK's biggest concentration of pig herds, from the East Riding to southern Lincolnshire, resources that were once spread thinly can now be targeted. Infectivity in pigs is many times greater than in sheep or cattle, hence the decision to maximise efforts in this area.
Meanwhile, sheep farmers in the Brecon Beacons in mid-Wales await the results of further tests on their flocks, with the latest cull taking the number of animals slaughtered in the region to 6500.
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