With speculation still running rampant about the source of the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic in Great Britain, the Northumberland County Council recently confirmed to the BBC that it plans to prosecute pig farmer Bobby Waugh for his alleged role in the outbreak.
The Ministry of Agriculture has identified Waugh’s farm as the likely source of the outbreak. Waugh is being charged with “failure to notify the existence of disease in pigs between its occurrence and discovery by Maff” as well as “feeding unprocessed catering waste to pigs.”
Six hundred pigs at Waugh’s farm were destroyed in March in an attempt to control the spread of the disease.
Waugh denies the allegations and claims that the government is trying to turn him into a scapegoat for the epidemic.
“They are just clutching at straws,” Waugh told the BBC. “I can disprove all these charges. They are determined to make me responsible for the foot-and mouth crisis.”
Source:
Pig farmer faces prosecution. The BBC, June 1, 2001.