© Devon County Council, 2002.
It was a disaster from start to finish...MAFF were playing catch up from day one... It was very difficult to obtain information especially in the early days and this only served to feed the rumour mill among farmers... Contiguous culling led to the unnecessary killing of animals, caused great personal distress among farmers and led to MAFF rapidly losing control...
David Hill, Devon County Chairman, National Farmers' Union
Some cattle spent days roaming around the village when they bolted after an attempted MAFF cull... Some took four or five shots to kill... It was chaos and shambles...
William Norman, Knowstone Parish Council
My children had never seen me cry before. They have now... In the space of 24 hours we were advised to move by the MoD and offered holiday accommodation by MAFF... it is clear we were seen as an easy and cheap target... All we want is an apology ... we want it to go away and be restored to how it was.
Mark Tomlinson, Local Resident
We felt as if we were under siege. I am not a farmer but I felt very much the siege mentality... Farmers felt that if there was somebody closer to them who could translate, interpret, advise and reassure, someone they could turn to, that would have been a great help...
Ken Lancaster, Kennerleigh Parish Meeting
I found the lack of direction and advice most disappointing. People were looking to the school for information and we couldn't provide them with any as we were not getting any support ourselves... We felt totally isolated...
Mark Raven, Headteacher, Black Torrington Primary School
Someone needed to take a grip... We needed someone to take government guidance and deploy local resources quickly... Getting accurate information and providing well-grounded feedback is critical to this whole process... It was clear that Government Ministers, however well intentioned, had a lack of understanding of the impact on the ground...
John Varley, Estates Director, Clinton Devon Estates
I couldn't believe how poor communication was... Information was haphazard, often vague or contradictory, or simply just refused... What was really required was a single point of regular, good quality information...
Graham Gilbert, Managing Director, Great Western Radio
There was and is considerable ignorance over how the disease is spread and major pressure to close down the countryside... With hindsight it became clearer that visitors were not a significant factor and therefore some parts of the countryside and vital paths such as the South West Coast path were closed unnecessarily...
Alex Raeder, Senior Land Agent, Devon Region, National Trust
The sooner command and control is established the sooner order can be brought to chaos...This is not a natural responsibility for civil servants and the Foot and Mouth Emergency plans did not look like they had been developed since the last major outbreak... The military should have been brought in sooner, but with a clear remit - a better idea of what they were there to do... Whoever takes the lead in future needs to be better at developing contingency plans and the proper level of training and resources to implement them.
Sir John Evans, Chief Constable, Devon and Cornwall Police
The images of barbaric killing and primeval disposal of cattle and sheep carcasses have been transmitted around the world... People thought they had gone back to the Dark Ages... I honestly believe we could get the business back next year with effective marketing... But it will not drift back on its own...The challenge for some businesses is to survive until next Easter.
Malcolm Bell, Chief Executive, South West Tourism
The public got the idea that Devon and Cornwall was closed... As far as the media and the public were concerned, it was essential to get the story over quickly and it was not done.
John Fowler, Chairman, John Fowler Holidays
Burning pyres were a legitimate news event and became the single most vivid image of Foot and Mouth. It would be naïve to think these images would not get shown... I am very surprised that there wasn't a game plan in place. In any future emergency, effective communications including the new realities of the mass media must be taken into account.
Chris Foreman, Senior Output Editor, Carlton TV
Closing off access to people to enjoy the Devon environment is what has affected the Devon economy... As the months went by and guidance evolved, that would not be the decision we would take now...
Nick Atkinson, Chief Executive, Dartmoor National Park Authority
Farming was the bedrock of employment in rural areas and young people are now faced with a struggle to find jobs and homes and have to look seriously at moving out of the area...
Mark Goodman, County Organiser, Devon Federation of Young Farmers
The pain and fear in our community was palpable. You could feel it coming over the phone... I would get distressed calls at night from people whose husbands had gone out and they didn't know where they were... There is a lot of isolation and psychiatric ill health that exists in the countryside and that is compounded by loneliness and financial worries... It is almost like having mud shovelled on your head and sooner or later you are going to go down.
Rev Paul Fitzpatrick, Northmoor Team Ministry
Farmers are not a group traditionally likely to access mental health services... But the 'bereavement' associated with the loss of animals and the hopelessness of the situation is likely to lead to desperation and an increased risk of depressive illness.
Dr Mike Owen, Director of Public Health, North and East Devon Health Authority
Unless fodder can be brought in from outside we are heading for a disastrous welfare problem this winter - for animals and humans...
Peter Clarke, Farm Crisis Network
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© Devon County Council, 2002.