EAD Speaker’s hands-on experience of the UK 2001 foot-and-mouth disease crisis

Michael Laurence worked in the UK during the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak that caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism.

This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms across most of the British countryside. Between 6.5 million to 10 million (UK National Audit Office 2002) animals were euthanised in an eventually successful attempt to halt the disease.

It has been described as the most serious epizoosis ever to occur in a country previously free of disease, and was considered a national crisis that many believed was probably one of the greatest social upheavals since the war.

Australians remember all too well how profoundly this event effected the British people.

Michael will be talking about his hands-on experience of the 2001 UK foot-and-mouth outbreak at the AVA Emergency Animal Disease Summit this November.

Michael Laurence is the Program Manager Animal Wellbeing with Meat & Livestock Australia.

Find out more about the AVA Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) Summit 

Listen to Michael’s short video about the presentation he will be giving at the EAD Summit.

References

National Audit Office. The 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease. London: Stationery Office, 2002 https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/the-2001-outbreak-of-foot-and-mouth-disease/