THERE are grounds for 'cautious optimism' in the battle against foot and mouth, according to Agriculture Minister Nick Brown this week.
In West Devon there has only been one confirmed case of the disease reported since Easter Sunday, more than ten days ago.
Beer Hill farm at North Tawton was confirmed infected on Saturday. 160 cattle and 893 sheep were affected.
There have been 156 cases in Devon as a whole since the start of the outbreak in February, eight more since this time last week. There have been no more cases in Cornwall, which remains largely untouched by the virus — though still suffering the high levels of restrictions that have gripped the entire country.
However, huge numbers of carcasses still lie rotting in farmyards and fields throughout Devon.
As the culling of animals in farms contiguous with infected premises continues, the number of animals slaughtered in Devon stood at 336,650 as of Tuesday evening, the last figures released before the Times went to press.
Several thousand animals from premises contiguous to the last two cases are still awaiting slaughter.
So far 238,000 have been disposed of leaving almost 99,000 lying rotting. This figure has shown a dramatic decrease from earlier in the week when it was almost twice as high.
A spokesperson at MAFF said this sudden decline in the number was mostly due to a change in accounting practices.
She said that previously figures were slow in arriving from the field and only included carcasses completely disposed of. The new figures are coming in much more quickly and include carcasses lying on pyres awaiting torching.