Instead, all animals on infected farms are killed and incinerated or buried. As a safety precaution, animals on neighbouring farms are also destroyed, especially sheep. They may look healthy and not show any symptoms of foot and mouth, but sheep could still be infectious and a threat to other livestock. Now, at the end of the 5th week of the epidemic, half a million animals have already been slaughtered, or are about to be killed. This includes many healthy animals only suspected of having come into contact with the disease.
Some farmers are opposed to the slaughtering policy.
In the interest of animal welfare, vaccination should be used as an alternative method to control the spread of foot and mouth. A recently published risk assessment argued strongly for vaccination, and showed that vaccination could have been used to control the disease effectively during the early stages of the epidemic. This would have helped the tourist industry too. Tourism generates more income in rural areas than farming does, and the restricted access to walks and parks in areas affected by foot and mouth has not been good for business. The arguments against vaccination are not based on animal welfare, but on short-term economic and political criteria.