Foot-and-mouth took a heavy toll on animals

As foot-and-mouth took hold of the countryside in the south of Scotland last year, more and more land was closed to the public.

Dumfries and Galloway Police, which said it relies on people in the countryside to spot suspicious behaviour, believes a hard core of criminals exploited the situation by laying poisoned bait.

Sergeant Young, who specialises in wildlife crime, will tell a Scottish police wildlife conference that red kites, buzzards and sparrowhawks were all poisoned.

A number of domestic cats were also said to have been poisoned.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has confirmed that last year was particularly bad for wild bird persecution.

Criticisms of the government

The organisation has said that while it cannot be sure, it also suspects that foot-and-mouth was a factor.

Meanwhile, Professor Ian Cunningham, who is leading the Royal Society of Edinburgh's inquiry, has said he hopes its report will be published by the end of June.

Professor Cunningham said that account has to be taken of scientific advances in vaccines and diagnosis as well as ways to improve control measures and contingency planning.

Farmers and others, at meetings in Newcastleton and Newton St Boswells, were critical of many aspects of the way the emergency was handled.

One called it a disaster from start to finish, while another said communities had been left terrified, angry and isolated.