It is 20 years since foot and mouth devastated the rural community

Last week marked 20 years since the foot and mouth epidemic that devastated large parts of south Scotland.
A earthdigger relocates hundreds of cattle and sheep infected with foot-and-mouth disease as they are being incinerated (pic: Getty Images)A earthdigger relocates hundreds of cattle and sheep infected with foot-and-mouth disease as they are being incinerated (pic: Getty Images)
A earthdigger relocates hundreds of cattle and sheep infected with foot-and-mouth disease as they are being incinerated (pic: Getty Images)

It led to more than six million animals being culled nationwide and tourism losing millions of pounds, as the countryside was virtually closed for months. Dumfries and Galloway had 177 cases.

At that time, South Scotland list MSP Colin Smyth was working for then Dumfries MP Russell Brown.

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Mr Smyth said: “Foot and mouth had a profound effect on our region, and the impact is still felt today 20 years on.

“It quite literally changed the way the country's farms work, especially when it comes to tracing and disease control.

“Working in Russell’s parliamentary office, trying to support local farmers and businesses, consumed every minute of the day as Dumfries and Galloway really was at the epicentre of the outbreak.

“There were no Zoom calls then, so when Russell was in Westminster, I was attending early morning meetings on his behalf in the emergency bunker the council had set up.

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“Most of the time you felt more like a social worker than a parliamentary researcher, offering devastated constituents a listening ear on the phone late into the night.

“The sheer horror of the time really struck home when we had been asked to meet a small number of farmers in Langholm.

"All you could see in the darkness was field after field with pyres of burning carcasses. The smell was nauseating, and decades on, I know those images and the losses of the time still haunt many people.”

The General Election due to take place that May was pushed back to the summer, and Mr Smyth is surpised delaying this year’s Scottish Parliament election hasn’t been put formward as a real option due to Covid-19.

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He said: “There wasn’t any problem running the election but Tony Blair understood it was inappropriate for people to go from farmyard to farmyard canvassing with the risk of spreading the disease.

"It is surprising that in the face of the current pandemic no one is suggesting the Scottish Parliament election be moved a few weeks to when everyone has been vaccinated, making it far safer.

“We can only hope we don’t live to regret not learning that particular lesson from 20 years ago.”