The carcasses of 1,500 sheep buried in Wales are due to be dug up because blood started bubbling to the surface.
They are likely to be burned near the site in mid-Wales.
Welsh Assembly agriculture officials met Environment Agency and local authority officers yesterday to organise the digging up of the carcasses and to decide the safest way to re-dispose of them.
The carcasses were buried at a farm called Buttington Hall, near Welshpool, mid-Wales, where animals were killed after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth was confirmed.
But when ground level water levels rose, blood from the carcasses bubbled to the surface.
The Welsh Assembly announced on Friday that the carcasses would be dug up and re-disposed of to avoid any contamination of water courses in the area.
Assembly officials, Environment Agency experts and officers from Powys County Council met at the site to assess the situation.
Last night, an Environment Agency spokesman said a final decision on disposal was expected within 24 hours, but a Ministry for Agriculture spokesman said it looked most likely that the carcasses would now be burned on the site.
PA