whitelackington
New member
We were working in the foot & mouth zone today, didn't see any precautions, no roadblocks or anything
Foot and Mouth
- Thread starter AndyF
- Start date
slippery_matt
New member
why would they need road blocks?!
whitelackington
New member
Why was caving shut down last time, including caving huts :-\
Les W
Active member
whitelackington said:
Caving was shut down voluntarily by the consensus within the caving institutions. It was felt that it would be unforgivable if F&M was to strike on Mendip (for instance) and there be the possibility that cavers had contributed to its transfer.
Cavers travel all over the country to visit the "wild places" and there was a real possibility that if F&M reared its head locally then cavers might get the blame.
As has already been pointed out, access to most caves is over farming land, quite often containing livestock.
Landowners were very grateful of the responsible way we (the caving community) responded to the risks and this has gained us much respect.
Going without caving for a few months is not much of a hardship compared to what farmers had to deal with, their animals quite often representing their lives work being destroyed and their livelihoods ruined.
It's a no brainer really.
Hughie
Active member
graham said:AndyF said:Anne said:
...except for golf, motor rallies, shooting and fox hunting of course.... just closed for poor people.
Actually fox hunting did shut down. Effect on fox population - zero. Pest control? No chance!
Errm.... said this before - it was the hunting closed season, ie no hunting (so there wouldn't have been any change on fox population). I seem to remember the last meet or two was cancelled.
Anyway (not wishing to get into that debate), the agricultural world and it's associated industries much appreciated the discretion of the general public in staying away from the countryside (if possible) at that time. :bow:
Hughie
Active member
AndyF said:Anne said:
...except for golf, motor rallies, shooting and fox hunting of course.... just closed for poor people.
Just to be pedantic....
Golf - usually played on a course (not farmland).
Motor rallies - usually on roads and tracks (not farmland)
Shooting - like hunting (already covered above), organised game shoots/wildfowling would be out of season at that time. Pest control would almost certainly have been limited to arable land, ie pigeon control on cereals/oilseed rape. Or at the shooters discretion - most responsible, considerate people would have stayed away - just as we stayed away from caves.
Don't mind being corrected though.
AndyF
New member
Hughie said:
But it shows the ridiculous nature of the blanket footpath closures. Near me was a golf course, crossed by several public footpaths. The golfers still walked about, drove to and fro. Deer (hooved?) wonder all over the course. But the Footpaths were closed. Sensible?
Car rallies were held in the forests in Sussex, again the paths through the same forest were closed.
Plenty of rough shooting going on near me too....
The hunt near me regulalry mets in the Summer, not for fox hunting but just for a thrash around. That still happened....
The point I'm making was that lots of people DIDN'T stay away, mainly where there was money to be made, and the government took no steps to supress these activities. Why not?
Hughie
Active member
Round here, I think people did actually choose to stay away. I suspect the government rather hoped they could rely on the general publics' consciences.
I must admit I find it quite bizarre when I can't move cattle from field to field, and yet footpaths remain open (and I'm not necessarily advocating they're closed).
Still - I'm sure the government is right...........
I must admit I find it quite bizarre when I can't move cattle from field to field, and yet footpaths remain open (and I'm not necessarily advocating they're closed).
Still - I'm sure the government is right...........
whitelackington
New member
We are virtually over run by deer in this part of the world, quite a few different species, not all nocturnal either.
If deer can carry Foot & Mouth why are "they" not culling deer in the surveillance zone :-\
If deer can carry Foot & Mouth why are "they" not culling deer in the surveillance zone :-\
Hughie
Active member
whitelackington said:
If, or when, the surveillance zone becomes a cull zone, then it's likely they will.
Also you'll find footpaths are then closed - govt will say it's to stop spread, but also it's to stop the public seeing what actually happens re wildlife. In 2001 there were large military movements in areas like Devon and Wales - assisting with the cull. More likely carrying out a wildlife cull. It's interesting to note that during the '01 outbreak people studying badgers noted a fall in numbers around culled out farms - some said due to badgers needing cattle and there associated odds and ends, such as feed, worms/beetles under cow pats etc to thrive. Bullshit methinks (pun not intended). Not wishing to promote a conspiracy theory, but I would suggest they were part of the cull.
Lots of interesting stuff on www.warmwell.com
