Back in 2001, the United Kingdom was besieged by a crisis which rocked the country, as government went into crisis mode to try and contain an outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth disease. In the end, millions of
healthy livestock were needlessly "slaughtered on suspicion" at the orders of the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the government of Tony Blair.
This investigative documentary reveals a shocking saga of government ineptness and corruption, as the upheaval proceeded to decimate thousands of independent British farmers - while leaving economic and
social devastation in its wake, hitting rural regions like Cumbria and Devon. Decades later, those scares still remain on the nation.
Additional Notes from one of the film's contributors:
"According to Meat & Livestock Commission stats, 12,000,000 animals were slaughtered. This statistic did not include lambs at foot, aborted lambs, calves or piglets. On top of
that, tens of thousands of chickens were slaughtered in the early months on 'welfare' grounds. 88% of all animals slaughtered had not contracted FMD (DEFRA). Great Orton airfield was used to
slaughter sheep under the 'voluntary' cull that was anything but voluntary, and farmers not participating were ruthlessly threatened. There was only one mild case of FMD recorded from the
thousands of blood tests done at Great Orton (DEFRA). There was a travelator that ran from the slaughter tent at Great Orton to the graves. This ran 16 hours a day transporting 'dead' young lambs.
Slaughtermen working there reported that many of the lambs were buried alive."
