SLAUGHTERED animals left unburied and unburnt for days at a time this week sparked fears of pollution at a major water source.

But Environment Agency and South West water officials quickly stressed there was no threat.

One farmer north of Roadford Lake alerted the Environment Agency late last week after fluids from his dead animals began seeping into a stream. He feared the pollution might enter West Devon's water supply at Roadford Lake.

EA spokesperson Brigit Norris said: 'The farmer was concerned that fluids draining from his dead cattle were running into a stream which connects with the River Thrushell, but it does not run into Roadford.'

She said the farmer dug a trench to contain the fluids, which were then pumped back up into a slurry pit for subsequent, proper disposal.

'There was no pollution and certainly no threat to Roadford,' she said.

South West Water spokesperson Paul Breakwell reiterated the message: 'There was no threat to Roadford — absolutely never any threat.'

He explained that no water was abstracted from the river downstream of the farm, although it had been one of the sources used to fill the lake when it was built five years ago.

Carcasses awaiting disposal are becoming a big problem in many places, but perhaps particularly in the small community of Bratton Clovelly, which borders the lake.

Parish clerk Peter Penning said the whole parish was concerned. 'Animals were lying about 100 metres from the parish hall for 10 days. All the fluids were flowing down the ditch into the village and ended up in someone's garden pond.'

Mr Penning said the bodies were eventually taken away on Monday.

Farmer Susan Madge, of nearby Middle Boasley Farm, said earlier this week that the land had been too wet to set a fire, so they had to wait for the animals to be taken away.

'We are still waiting — this is now the 11th or 12th day. We were expecting them (MAFF) yesterday, but they didn't come. Hopefully it will be today. We are all in the same situation, nine of us, in a small community.

'It is becoming a problem, but we appreciate they have an awful job, it must be a nightmare for them.'

The Madges' animals were uninfected with foot and mouth, but killed as the farm was near to a confirmed case. Infected animals were dealt with straight away, she said.

Mervin North, of West Burrow Farm, had his stock killed on Thursday. The carcasses were removed on Sunday.

'That was long enough — they don't half stink this time of year,' he said. 'You've never seen such a cock-up — if we left animals hanging around like this we'd be hung, drawn and quartered — nothing spreads disease quicker.'

A spokesperson for MAFF said: 'We appreciate there's a problem in getting rid of the carcasses, but we are doing our utmost to get on top of the situation. It's a huge task with 130,000 carcasses in this region, and going up daily. Fires are going ahead every night, but still the numbers increase.'

He said MAFF was aiming to slaughter infected animals within 24 hours and others on contiguous premises within 48 hours, to drastically reduce the spread of the virus.

He said the mass burial site at Ashmoor, near Petrockstowe, was nearing readiness with a new road being built through the quarry. That will hold 400,000 carcasses and the spokesperson was confident that would ease the situation.