Foot and Mouth Disease affects all cloven hoofed animals. This includes cattle, pigs, deer, elk, bison, water buffalo, sheep, goats, llamas, wild boar and pot-bellied pigs. Horses, donkeys, mules, dogs and birds are not affected but can carry the virus. Foot and Mouth Disease causes blisters in and around the mouth, around the hooves and on the teats of affected animals. While animals rarely die from the disease, they stop eating, are lame and very ill.
Dairy cows stop producing milk.
Foot and Mouth Disease is extremely difficult to control once it occurs. The disease spreads very quickly within farms and between farms, often in a matter of hours. Control involves slaughtering large numbers of livestock, closing roads in affected areas, and stopping all sale and movement of livestock. If Foot and Mouth Disease enters Canada, our export markets could be shut down for 18 months or more and cleanup could cost billions of dollars. Foot and Mouth Disease currently exists in the UK, including England, Wales and Scotland, France and the Netherlands.