The North's Department of Agriculture has confirmed the fourth outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease after preliminary test results from cattle in Ardboe, Co Tyrone, proved positive. All 123 cattle on the farm, which is close to the farm owned by Mr Paddy Donnelly where the disease was confirmed on April 13th, have already been culled.
The Agriculture Minister, Ms Brid Rodgers, confirmed the outbreak yesterday after contacting scientists at Pirbright Laboratories in Surrey, England. The laboratory was also examining samples from a "hot suspect" case in Ballintoy, Co Antrim, the results of which were expected late last night or early this morning. If positive, officials said it would most likely be linked to the North's third outbreak at Cushendall, Co Antrim, last Sunday. The sheep at Ballintoy were destroyed and incinerated on Friday.
While being "disappointed" at the results, Ms Rodgers said they were "not entirely unexpected.
"The farm in question is right next to the farm where the original outbreak was discovered. All the animals on the farm, 123 cattle, have already been destroyed as part of the one-kilometre pre-emptive cull which was carried out around the original outbreak.
"I would like to extend my sympathy to the farmer concerned and to his family and indeed to all those farmers who have lost their stock as a result of this terrible disease," she added.
A spokesman for the Ulster Farmers Union, Mr Joe McDonald, stressed the importance of keeping the three-kilometre exclusion and 10-kilometre restriction zones in place, and added: "There is very little movement of animals within Northern Ireland and it is vital that the Department carries out tests on as many suspect animals as possible so we can paint a picture of the full extent of the problem."
Meanwhile, the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) has said it has been inundated by calls from farmers reporting themselves for animal cruelty.
According to a USPCA spokesman, farmers are running out of animal feed as the current restrictions on the movement of livestock means that most animals cannot be put out to spring pastures as normal. An additional problem is that animals are banned from crossing roads, which divide many farmlands.