Military joins fight against foot-and-mouth disease

LONDON - Army butchers began slaughtering sheep at an air base in northern England yesterday as the military's top ground commander stepped into the fight against foot-and-mouth disease.

Livestock were trucked into the Great Orton airfield and workers nearby prepared a mass grave the size of two football fields.

Also yesterday, European Union veterinary experts approved Britain's request for authorization to vaccinate up to 180,000 dairy cattle. No decision has been made yet on whether to go ahead and vaccinate - considered a last-resort measure.

Britain has sought to avoid vaccination because it would keep other nations' doors shut to its livestock exports, as inoculated animals are difficult to distinguish from those carrying the virus. Britain has 5 million doses of vaccine on hand.

"We must consider the option," Prime Minister Tony Blair said in the House of Commons.

An EU statement said such a vaccination campaign would be limited to cattle in the hardest-hit counties - 100,000 in Cumbria and 80,000 in Devon.

With agriculture officials struggling to slaughter animals fast enough to contain the disease, the military - which until now provided only logistical support - began helping with the cull.

Seven army butchers started killing sheep and dumping them into a pit at the airfield under veterinarians' supervision, said Paul Sykes, a Ministry of Defense spokesman.

British land forces commander Gen. Michael Jackson, who commanded NATO forces during the Kosovo crisis, acknowledged foot-and-mouth posed a new challenge for British troops.

"It is a rather different sort of conflict," he said. "It is not one involving human beings who cannot get on with each other, it is a very tragic disease in our own country."

He described the scene at the former Royal Air Force field as "a very sad sight. ... It is just an awful waste, a dreadful waste."

About 600 troops are now involved in fighting the disease, Sykes said. In Cumbria, the outbreak's center, efforts are focused on slaughtering infected animals and culling all animals within two miles of every outbreak.

"The logistical problem is tackling the backlog as well as maintaining a line beyond which we do not want the disease to spread," Hoon said.

Brigadier Alex Birtwhistle said he was searching for a site for a pyre to burn 9,000 Cumbria cattle awaiting disposal.

The nationwide case total reached 705 yesterday.