MORE than 2.3 million animals have been killed and taken out of the EU food chain because of the BSE crisis. And 924,100 of the total were calves less than 20 days old slaughtered under the so-called "Herod option".
The figures have been published in the Bord Bia weekly magazine which shows that the main slaughter has taken place in the UK where 627,959 calves were killed to June 6th.
France had the second-largest slaughter of calves with 237,060 to June 6th. Portugal slaughtered 40,985 in the same period and Ireland was in fourth place with a total cull of 18,084 since the scheme was introduced late last year.
The British government also removed 1,483,000 cattle from the food chain under the special scheme which was introduced by the EU to assist it slaughter animals more than 30 months old.
In addition, a further 7,800 cattle have been removed under the selective cull scheme.
The slaughter of the young calves was opposed by animal welfare groups across Europe and the Irish Veterinary Union but it went ahead nevertheless.