Blue Bulls

Blue Bulls

Hampshire County Council has joined forces with Defra and the Hampshire farming community to contain the infectious Bluetongue Virus.The disease which broke out in a farm in Upton, Dorset, is carried and transferred by midges. It affects mainly sheep but also infects cattle, goats and deer, the main wildlife of England. Experts say that the disease cannot be passed naturally from one animal to the next. It travels through via midges or unhygienic farming practices.The Council have boundaries in place to avoid any further outbreak into the Hampshire area. Large woodland areas like the New Forest would be heavily hit if farmers do not obey the rules of moving animals. If animals are suspected to have the disease then they are urged to contact animal health to move their animals out of the Protection Zone and into the Surveillance Zone.The bluetongue disease was discovered in 2006 in Northern Europe and Britain. It was recently discovered in Dorset where the County Council have taken steps to minimise the spread. All of Dorset and the New Forest are in a Protection Zone and the rest of Hampshire by a Surveillance Zone. The effects it can have on farmyard animals are not all bad. Unlike the Foot and Mouth disease mortality rates are low but sheep can be more susceptible to the effects. No vaccine has been formulated to prevent the symptoms of the disease but experts say that it cannot be passed through animal products to humans.