5000 scrapie-risk sheep to die

Press, 15 August 1978, Page 1

5000 scrapie-risk sheep to die

PA Wellington ‘ About 5000 sheep on- the Government quarantine station near Rotorua will be slaughtered and the exotic sheep breeding programme halted after advice from the world authority on scrapie, Dr T. J. Stamp, that it would be the only possible way to keep the disease out of New Zealand.

The slaughter would begin today, said the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Maclntyre) last evening. They would be killed and deep-buried by the end of the week.

Scrapie, a debilitating disease which affects the nervous system of sheep, was discovered in an imported Finnish Landrace ewe in the Government’s breeding flock on Mana Island. Last month the breeding flock was slaughtered but the Ministry was awaiting a recommendation from Dr Stamp before deciding the fate of the Crater Farm sheep, also part of the breeding programme.

Mr Maclntyre said Dr Stamp — flown out from Britain — had confirmed the Ministry’s diagnosis of the clinical scrapie case in the Mana Island flock. “There is no satisfactory

alternative to slaughter,” Dr Stamp said. “I am very sorry. It was an excellent programme.

“Even when the sheep have been slaughtered, there is still a chance of the spread of scrapie from Crater Fann for a while, or that it has already spread, but 1 regard that chance as infinitesimal.” However, it would be several years before any spread became apparent. Doctor Stamp said that when there was a method to guarantee sheep semen and ova were scrapie-free, the exotic programme could be resumed using artificial insemination. “But that is a tremendously expensive research programme which will take a number of years before we know ,if it is safe.” Such a programme would involve not only New Zealand, but the United States and Britain.

The problem he said, was that there was no known diagnosis of the disease. But he believed the i '-ability to diagnose the problem was in sight. “It seems that we might be getting there. There is quite a bit of optimism.” Doctor Stamp said he had suggested three alternatives for land use of

the. quarantine stations to the Minister. Cattle could be farmed and slaughtered on the farms, deer could be reared, or forests planted. He recommended forestry, but Mr Maclntyre said no decision on the future of the land had been made.

Sheep should be kept off the land for five years al lea<t, said Dr Stamp. The Minister promised that nobody involved in the breeding programme would be out of work as a result of the slaughter and pledged to “step up” the breeding programme of New Zealand sheep.