Aftermath of the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Outbreak

That the Parliament demands that planning starts now to ensure better disease control and better treatment of animals after the present foot-and-mouth outbreak is over; agrees to investigate along with other bodies, including the National Union of Farmers and the Cross Party Animal Welfare group, the ending of transportation of live animals over great distances to slaughter, a dominant factor in what led to the current national tragedy; calls for the re-opening of local slaughter houses and for transportation of carcasses only, and heeds the pleas of animal welfare groups and farmers horrified at instances of the appalling conditions under which carefully reared animals have been transported beyond the UK over thousands of miles through the continent with many suffocating en route or being butchered in certain continental abattoirs where barbaric cruelty is commonplace.