British soldiers involved in the mass slaughter of livestock in Dumfries and Galloway were today drafted in to the Scottish Borders in a bid to isolate the outbreaks of foot-and-mouth which have emerged in a previously unaffected area.
Army personnel are also due to arrive tomorrow morning as the effort to cull thousands of animals on farms adjoining the two outbreaks near Jedburgh gets into full swing.
Council officials say it will take several days to complete the operation, which will involve a total of 26 farms.
The news comes as the total number of foot-and-mouth cases north of the border reached 140 following the confirmation of another outbreak in Dumfries and Galloway.
Fears that the virus was spiralling out of control increased on Friday when a case was confirmed at Beirhope Farm near Jedburgh - 30 miles from the nearest outbreak. A second case was confirmed yesterday at nearby Rennieston Farm in Oxnam.
Investigations into the cases - which are well outside the three-kilometre exclusion zone, or "firebreak", which represents the maximum distance vets believe the disease can be airborne - are continuing.
But officials have dismissed suggestions the virus could have been spread via smoke from a pyre at Liddesdale, 30 miles away.
Meanwhile, the latest case of foot-and-mouth in Scotland was confirmed at Ravenstone Mains near Whithorn, Wigtownshire, where dairy cattle were found with the disease.
PA