The government did its best to maintain an aura of normalcy. Census takers continued their rounds, but without entering quarantined farms. But as smoke from burning carcasses darkened the skies over rural England, there was a sense of a situation getting worse rather than better. Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said the outbreak should now be called an epidemic. Rather, its danger is economic.
Infected animals lose their appetite.
They don't grow fat or give much milk, and thus produce no income for the farmer. The British government's strategy, since the first case was confirmed last month, has been to isolate farms where the disease occurs and to kill all livestock on those farms to stop its spread. Most other European governments have taken the same draconian course. For one thing, so many animals have been killed that the government can't burn them fast enough. Some farm families have had to live with foul-smelling carcasses for days, and there are fears that vermin might spread the disease further.