Foot and Mouth Disease Outbreak

[+Happy Humphrey]

So the footpaths have now been closed - a very recent change...

A few footpaths were closed to protect the clearance operations, rather than to prevent the spread of disease.

The blanket ban on the IOM has now been lifted, although contrary to UK advice there is still a ban on walking off-trail.

The Manx Grand Prix will go ahead although with many precautions and limitations.

[+Eckington]

So the footpaths have now been closed - a very recent change...

A few footpaths were closed to protect the clearance operations, rather than to prevent the spread of disease.

The blanket ban on the IOM has now been lifted, although contrary to UK advice there is still a ban on walking off-trail.

The Manx Grand Prix will go ahead although with many precautions and limitations.

 

 

......................the closure notices and blue and white tapes were still in place on all footpaths around Port St Mary and Gansey this morning []

[+Happy Humphrey]

......................the closure notices and blue and white tapes were still in place on all footpaths around Port St Mary and Gansey this morning []

I gather that the large and enthusiastic team that placed the barriers in no time has been superseded by a part-time bloke who's detailed to remove notices and tape when he gets round to it (do you detect a hint of cynicism here?).

According to the DAFF website there's no reason for the footpaths to be closed, so they will open them when they get chance.

I'll be back on Monday but I doubt that I'll be able to find out which caches are still in the exclusion zone.

[Lactodorum]

Looking here it seems that the temporary restrictions have been lifted on all but the initial two sites so any caches that were disabled in the other locations can be re-enabled. We'll check in a day or so to see if the owners have done so and if not, we'll renable ones we disabled.

 

Fingers crossed that it continues to be good news.

[+currykev]

Looking here it seems that the temporary restrictions have been lifted on all but the initial two sites so any caches that were disabled in the other locations can be re-enabled. We'll check in a day or so to see if the owners have done so and if not, we'll renable ones we disabled.

 

Fingers crossed that it continues to be good news.

 

Good news as I am to visit a friend in Milford Surrey and ALL the local caches are down at the moment.

I hope to do them the 1st weekend in SEP.I will wait until this weekend and check them again.

So I am hoping for some 's

[+John Stead]

Make sure that someone tells John Stead.

I've only just noticed that!

I can assure Alex and anyone else who cares that my vet after a thorough examination of my big left toe has assured me that I am not carrying any infection since that cache in 2001 when I got into a restricted zone by accident - so please can I go on caching?

[+TheMightyFinn]

Total praise for the reviewers from here. I only learned about the possible outbreak in Kent when one of my caches was disabled. Knowing a lot of the farmers on whose land my caches reside I decided to disable nearly all of my caches for my own peace of mind. I couldn't have lived with myself if I thought for a second my cache may have been responsible for the transmission of this dreadful disease.

 

We all have a part to play in reducing the chances of transmission of FMD, It shouldn't be down to the reviewers though their help is always welcome. Perhaps I was a little over zealous in disabling the caches but better safe than sorry....

 

Siliconwombat (hijacked lockets laptop whilst she was on the phone!)

[+Happy Humphrey]

Total praise for the reviewers from here. I only learned about the possible outbreak in Kent when one of my caches was disabled. Knowing a lot of the farmers on whose land my caches reside I decided to disable nearly all of my caches for my own peace of mind. I couldn't have lived with myself if I thought for a second my cache may have been responsible for the transmission of this dreadful disease.

 

We all have a part to play in reducing the chances of transmission of FMD, It shouldn't be down to the reviewers though their help is always welcome. Perhaps I was a little over zealous in disabling the caches but better safe than sorry....

 

Siliconwombat (hijacked lockets laptop whilst she was on the phone!)

"Current veterinary advice is that outside a protection zone, the risk of rights of way users and other visitors to the countryside spreading disease is negligible. Access to the countryside and in particular to rights of way, may be restricted but only within the Protection Zones (PZ) (areas of minimum 3km around an infected premises) if it is felt too risky to keep them open."

From

DEFRA Information.

 

Don't worry about caches needing to be disabled: the only reason for disabling any outside the two previously-infected premises in Surrey is to avoid a potential "scapegoat" situation (as Deceangi mentioned above), or where footpaths are closed to prevent interference with disease clearance operations. Other than that, there's no reason to disable caches and there's no real chance of passing the disease on simply by geocaching, even if you're within a restricted zone (or, in fact, even on land belonging to an infected farm). We all have a part to play in ensuring that the FMD situation is treated in a proportionate way and that countryside-based activities and businesses are allowed to continue unhindered.

 

Only the Isle of Man has kept virtually all footpaths closed, in reckless and dangerous disregard of DEFRA's advice. I'll post again if this situation changes.

[+Happy Humphrey]

Only the Isle of Man has kept virtually all footpaths closed, in reckless and dangerous disregard of DEFRA's advice. I'll post again if this situation changes.

Just to say that the island is now free from unnecessary FMD restrictions...

[+JeremyR]

Just a heads-up, the BBC are reporting that this morning's suspected FMD case is now confirmed so here we go again...

 

Control zone is shown here

 

(Currently it's shown as a temporary control zone but the BBC are saying that it's to become a regular control zone)

[Lactodorum]

Oh dear!

 

I've just done a search using the DEFRA map to pinpoint where I think the exclusion zone is and there seems to be only one cache actually inside it. I've temporarily disabled it just in case. From what I can see it is a 3km circle around 51°25.367'N, 0°32.757'W

[+Eckington]

There is now a 10km control zone around Stroude Lane, Egham and the Dept of Trading Standards for Surrey have announced that they have had a closure order on all public footpaths (I presume within this 10 km zone) confirmed.

 

I have yet to check out the area but I am sure this covers quite large parts of Windsor Great Park and could encroach on to parts of Swinley Forest.

[Alan White]

Oh dear!

 

I've just done a search using the DEFRA map to pinpoint where I think the exclusion zone is and there seems to be only one cache actually inside it. I've temporarily disabled it just in case. From what I can see it is a 3km circle around 51°25.367'N, 0°32.757'W

I made it N51°25.490 W000°32.760 (converted from TQ 01205 70538 as on DEFRA's website). I can only see that one cache.

[Alan White]

There is now a 10km control zone around Stroude Lane, Egham and the Dept of Trading Standards for Surrey have announced that they have had a closure order on all public footpaths (I presume within this 10 km zone) confirmed.

 

I have yet to check out the area but I am sure this covers quite large parts of Windsor Great Park and could encroach on to parts of Swinley Forest.

My understanding is that rights of way are only [to be] closed in the 3km PZ (and then only if necessary - it's not a blanket closure). The 10km SZ just misses the eastern edge of Swinley Forest. I see 42 caches in the SZ.

 

Oh, yes, and your house .

[+Eckington]

 

My understanding is that rights of way are only [to be] closed in the 3km PZ (and then only if necessary - it's not a blanket closure). The 10km SZ just misses the eastern edge of Swinley Forest. I see 42 caches in the SZ.

 

 

Great thanks for the clarification, the 5 O'clock news interview I caught on the way home was not very specific.

 

Oh, yes, and your house biggrin.gif

 

Yeah I know, but when I suggested to the Boss I couldn't make work tomorrow because of the restrictions he told me he would be around at 0600hrs with a disinfectant spray

[+Eckington]

I have now temped the caches in Windsor Great Park which, I have been lead to believe, has been largely closed down.

 

I have also asked the other short, fat guy with beard and specs to temp those of his caches which can be reached by footpath only.

 

Perhaps other local cachers who feel their caches are on paths in possibly agricultural areas could do the same.........

[+Happy Humphrey]

I haven't seen any mention of Windsor Great Park - it's probably better to avoid closing any caches until the extent of the Windsor outbreak (if any?) is confirmed. Bearing in mind that it's virtually impossible for walkers / geocachers to pass on the disease simply by moving through fields, overreaction is to be avoided.

 

Alan correctly points out that paths are only being closed within the 3km protection zones, and I believe that DEFRA are keen to encourage footpath users outside this immediate radius.

[+Eckington]

I haven't seen any mention of Windsor Great Park - it's probably better to avoid closing any caches until the extent of the Windsor outbreak (if any?) is confirmed. Bearing in mind that it's virtually impossible for walkers / geocachers to pass on the disease simply by moving through fields, overreaction is to be avoided.

 

Alan correctly points out that paths are only being closed within the 3km protection zones, and I believe that DEFRA are keen to encourage footpath users outside this immediate radius.

 

 

.......BBC web site:

 

"Parts of the Windsor Castle estate fall within the zone, and a number of precautionary measures have been introduced - gates have been closed, disinfectant pads established, and the deer park closed."

 

....which is good enough for me.

[+Mr Hedgehog]

For me anyway, logically if in the 10Km zone, I wouldn't go out walking on the footpaths etc. In a time like this, the risk, however small, just isn't worth it. If that meant I couldn't go and do a few caches in a particular area for a while, so what. A bit of care now should pay dividends later.

[Alan White]

I believe that DEFRA are keen to encourage footpath users outside this immediate radius.

Indeed. From http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/f...ural/index.htm:

Current veterinary advice is that, except within a Protection Zone (PZ) (an area of minimum 3km radius around an infected premises), the risk of rights of way users and other visitors to the countryside spreading disease is negligible. Access to the countryside and in particular to rights of way, may only be restricted within the Protection Zone and only then if it is felt too risky to keep them open. There is a balance to be struck between the need to control Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and the need to enable the public to have continued access to the countryside and rights of way for exercise, recreation, and just getting from A to B. Thus, any decision to close land over which there is a public right of way, or where there is public open space or a right of access to open country, would only be taken only when it is clearly necessary to do so.

Without actually visiting the caches, it's very difficult for anyone to say whether any particularly caches are or aren't accessible, or whether it would be prudent to disable them just in case. Just like DEFRA, we have a balance to strike between protecting against FMD and contributing to a closing down of the countryside. We need to exercise caution, while not overreacting. At the last outbreak we saw caches being disabled which were actually drive-bys, reachable from the pavement and nowhere near any susceptible animals. Let's keep calm .

[Alan White]

I see that the PZs have been significantly extended, or rather increased in number. See http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/f...-pzsz120907.pdf for the grid refs.

[+Eckington]

 

Without actually visiting the caches, it's very difficult for anyone to say whether any particularly caches are or aren't accessible, or whether it would be prudent to disable them just in case. Just like DEFRA, we have a balance to strike between protecting against FMD and contributing to a closing down of the countryside. We need to exercise caution, while not overreacting. At the last outbreak we saw caches being disabled which were actually drive-bys, reachable from the pavement and nowhere near any susceptible animals. Let's keep calm .

 

....which is why, as far as I know at this time, only caches within the exclusion zone, in the Great Park, and my own caches on paths within agricultural land, at this time have been disabled.

[Lactodorum]

While the UK review team are obviously concerned that Geocaching is seen to do the right thing in response to the statutory and advisory statements being issued by the relevant government departments there's only so much the three of us can do.

 

It's at this point we have to rely on individual cache owners to fulfill their maintenance responsibilities and take any action necessary themselves. I can't imagine that anyone will be unaware of the latest outbreak come the morning.

 

If any cache owner wants to contact me for advice I'll be happy to try and help but I won't be disabling any more caches unless there are exceptional circumstances.

[Alan White]

For info, here are the caches within the 3km PZs as defined at 16:50 today and referenced in the link in my previous post. Because there are multiple PZs this took a few minutes to assemble, so it might save others some time.

 

GC103DF,Badger #4's Big Pike

GC10C9V,Hidden Lives: Pyrford's Waifs & Strays

GC11QYK,chuk one

GC1224B,A Doctor Who Collection

GC1291F,Chase the Otter

GC12QH9,FB's 1st

GC12T23,FB's 2nd (The Back Lot)

GC13ANF,Surrey School Days 3: Who's This

GC13ATR,Ripley Ramble

GC13P7B,Gone Fishing... Thirsty Work Cache

GC1470B,Lottie's Lock Cache

GC14E66,The Crouch Oak Cache

GC15DJJ,Badger #3's Kingfisher Revisited

GC51C2,Homewood Bound

GCGDJG,The Big Charter

GCHYEF,weyside wander

GCJ083,weyside wander 2

GCJ4GC,weyside wander 3

GCNTK1,Camphill Cache

GCQ660,Roundabout Ramble 001 - (RRI)

GCVN85,Hide 'n' seek on Horsell Common

GCXDHB,Toppa's micro 1

GCXPZC,The Old Manor House

GCXZNT,Motorway Mayhem J14 M25 - Thirsty?

GCY76F,Badger's Sett

GCYBY6,Accorn

GCYK3R,Addlestone Junction

GCYKWM,Canal Cache Lock 4

GCYVNQ,Forgotten Houses - Wey Manor Farm

Isn't GSAK wonderful?

[Lactodorum]

For info, here are the caches within the 3km PZs as defined at 16:50 today and referenced in the link in my previous post.

Thanks, I'm sure this will help the owners identify which of their caches are affected.

[+purple_pineapple]

According to the local BBC news here, all footpaths within the 3Km PZ have now been closed. FWIW, I have also temp disabled my one cache that falls within the 10Km SZ. As others have said, it is a small inconvenience for us cachers, compared to what could be a huge problem for those who depend on the land. (Besides, the cache hasn;t been found since June, so its not a huge loss to the GC community!)

 

Dave

[+Eckington]

According to the local BBC news here, all footpaths within the 3Km PZ have now been closed. FWIW, I have also temp disabled my one cache that falls within the 10Km SZ. As others have said, it is a small inconvenience for us cachers, compared to what could be a huge problem for those who depend on the land. (Besides, the cache hasn;t been found since June, so its not a huge loss to the GC community!)

 

Dave

 

Many thanks Dave, that is much appreciated.

[Alan White]

According to the local BBC news here, all footpaths within the 3Km PZ have now been closed.

This doesn't agree with DEFRA's website (quoted above) so I rang DEFRA to ask for advice. According to DEFRA, all rights of way are not closed, nor do they need to be. There may be selective closures within the PZs, but of course that doesn't necessarily mean that caches become inaccessible.

[Nediam]

According to the local BBC news here, all footpaths within the 3Km PZ have now been closed.

This doesn't agree with DEFRA's website (quoted above) so I rang DEFRA to ask for advice. According to DEFRA, all rights of way are not closed, nor do they need to be. There may be selective closures within the PZs, but of course that doesn't necessarily mean that caches become inaccessible.

Well, according to the DEFRA site, the footpaths in the Protection Zones will be closed:-

 

".....The farm comprises a number of separate parcels of land and a single Protection Zone has been put in place extending a three kilometres radius from each of them, with a Surveillance Zone of 10 kilometres radius beyond that.

 

Footpaths will be closed in the Protection Zone.

 

A national movement ban – affecting cattle, sheep, pigs and other ruminants – has now been imposed in England. Similar arrangements are being made in Scotland and Wales. No movements of susceptible animals are allowed except under licence. The licence conditions may vary between England, Scotland and Wales......"

 

And also from their "Access to the countryside page:-

 

"The countryside remains open. However, footpaths on the infected premises and in the protection zone will be closed. There is no need for people to stop visiting the countryside and, at the present time, the only impacts on visitor attractions outside the Surveillance Zone are those which result from the restrictions on animal movements and events involving susceptible animals."

 

There is a section on the latter page stating "Access to the countryside and in particular to rights of way, may only be restricted within the Protection Zone and only then if it is felt too risky to keep them open." - I guess they feel it is too risky?

[Alan White]

Yes, I'd already read all that before posting. As you've shown, the information on DEFRA's website is confusing and self-conflicting. However, "Footpaths will be closed" <> "All public rights of way are closed", which is why I phoned DEFRA. And "All public rights of way are closed" <> "All caches in the PZs are inaccessible", which is the point I'm really making and I think has been taken.

[+Woking Wonders]

We have temporarily disabled our caches within the 3km zones - living so close as we do there are alot of signs up advising you're entering the zone (or leaving!)

 

As Alan says the website is confusing - and think its a difficult one to know what to do for the best but hopefully it will be shortlived??