THE British government seems unconcerned about the possibility that foot and
mouth disease has spread to wild animals. It isn’t planning systematic testing
of deer for the disease—despite pleas from deer experts.
FMD did not persist in the deer population after Britain’s last big outbreak
in 1967. But the situation today is different. There has been a tenfold increase
in deer numbers to around 2 million. And the population of wild boar, which can
also spread the disease, has grown to unknown proportions since they were
accidentally reintroduced to Britain in the 1980s.
The worry is that the populations…
