WEST Devon vets are being recruited by the Ministry of Agriculture to help out during the foot and mouth crisis. Vets from practices from all around the district have been asked to help - and are responding to the call.
Nelson Bowden, who runs a veterinary practice in Horrabridge, said two of their four vets have gone to help MAFF. He said: 'We are all sending staff where we can.
'This coming week is crucial in the fight against the disease, and a tremendous effort is being made to get vets to the front line.
'This is a major outbreak, and the more vets we have out there the better.'
He continued: 'When this is all over I hope lessons will be learned and good will come of it all.'
One of the problems MAFF has been facing is that a vet who has been on an infected farm has to be quarantined from other farms for three days. This is because the infective virus can exist on tonsils and in the throat and nose for up to 72 hours.
Westmoor Veterinary Group in Brook Lane, Tavistock, has also sent two vets to help out MAFF.
At the Okeford Veterinary Centre in School Way, Okehampton, they are sending two of their five vets on a rolling rota system. Vet Bob Young said they were doing all they could to help. 'This is a real battle and we are at a crucial stage,' he said.
North Tawton vet Bryony Herrod-Taylor and her North Park practice partner Paul Martin have been working for MAFF since March 14, working six days out of seven on farms in the area.
'I'm actually what's classed as dirty at the moment — that means I've come across foot and mouth, so there's a risk of me passing it on,' said Miss Herrod-Taylor.
She has been helping 'clear out' on farms and working at others where animals have to be killed — but is looking forward to being classified clean again, so she can help check healthy stock.
She said the foot and mouth virus can exist for several days in the nostrils and tonsils — although the risk of spreading the disease via muck and mud on footwear is higher.
Miss Herrod-Taylor said it is a very depressing situation to be working in.
'It's really very difficult, specially when you know the farmers. It's not nice,' she said.
'It's perhaps even more difficult for dairy farmers. They are with the animals twice a day, they know them very individually. They might be given numbers, but they know the individual quirks of each animal, you hear them talking about them.'
And Miss Herrod-Taylor could not see an end in sight to the crisis.
'Not having been around before it's difficult to say. We might find we suddenly get on top of it, but it's very difficult, you can't predict what's going to happen.
'All you can do is take it day by day.'