France blames Irish sheep for outbreak

A consignment of Irish sheep caused the second outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in France, the French Minister of Agriculture, Mr Jean Glavany, said yesterday.

"It appears that the animals at the origin of this second outbreak were Irish sheep which contaminated a calf in the Seine-et-Marne department," Mr Glavany said.

Most of the Irish sheep were slaughtered for the Muslim Eid al Kebir on March 5th. "They escaped notice by our veterinary service because they were Irish, not British, animals," Mr Glavany explained. "Until Friday, there was no suspicion of foot-and-mouth disease in Ireland, so we didn't look for Irish animals."

The Irish sheep transited the property of Mr Jean-Francois Reboux, a sheep trader in Mayenne, north-western France, on February 25th. The first outbreak in France, on March 13th, was caused by sheep imported by Mr Reboux from Britain.

Although the Irish sheep did not spend the night in Mayenne, they were transferred from one lorry to another on Mr Reboux's holding, and the second lorry was not disinfected.

Contaminated straw in Mr Reboux's lorry seems the most likely explanation, but Mr Glavany gave equal weight to the possibility the animals caught the virus in Ireland. "Information from our Irish contacts indicates they were in contact with animals from Britain before they left," Mr Glavany said. "But we will never know for certain."

Mr Glavany's announcement was imprecise. French officials could not say exactly how many sheep were imported from Ireland, nor where in Ireland they came from. They believed the sheep were not from the Cooley peninsula.

The statement issued by Mr Glavany's office on Friday night, when the second outbreak was discovered on the outskirts of Paris near Roissy, referred to British, not Irish, sheep.

All 320 livestock on the Mitry-Mory farm, including cattle, sheep and a goat, were killed by Saturday morning and buried under 15 tonnes of quick lime. Mr Laurent Pauchon, the owner, said the infected calf had been in contact with the Irish sheep. "He never left the farm," Mr Pauchon said. "He had lost his mother so we let him suckle from the ewes."

Mr Glavany denied his repeated references to "fraudulent practices" were meant to incriminate Mr Rebours, the Mayenne sheep trader who has been linked to five of the seven outbreaks in France and Holland.

EU directive 92102 requires that all livestock be clearly identified and traceable, he said. "Because of the BSE crisis, Europe has made a lot of progress regarding cattle," he said. "But directive 92102 is very badly enforced when it comes to sheep. We are flooded with shipments of sheep with no traceability. Unless great progress is made, France should stop accepting sheep imports."

At a meeting of the EU veterinary committee in Brussels today France, like Ireland, will push for regional rather than national embargoes where outbreaks occur.

Mr Glavany refrained from criticising Britain's handling of the crisis but expressed "surprise" that London did not carry out measures recommended by the EU, including disinfectant mats at departure points to the Continent. Since March 23rd, passengers arriving Charles-de-Gaulle Airport at Roissy or the Gare du Nord from Britain, Ireland or Holland must walk over disinfectant mats.