A CASE of the animal disease, Bluetongue, has been discovered among cattle owned by the prize-winning beef farmers, AG Wright of Haddenham.The disease was diagnosed on Friday afternoon in a Hereford cow, part of a 22-strong herd grazing near

THE second case of Bluetongue in Cambridgeshire has been discovered in a Haddenham farmer's cattle grazing in Pymoor.

The disease was confirmed by Government animal health experts from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who have ordered a 20 kilometre exclusion zone round the affected area.

Livestock will only be allowed to move within the zone but the disease poses no threat to humans or the food chain.

Bluetongue is transmitted by insects carrying the disease from one infected animal to another.

Cambridgeshire County Council Trading Standards officers will be responsible for the enforcement of the exclusion zone and farmers across the county are being asked to abide by the new regulations.

They are being asked to carry out checks twice a day on their livestock focusing on the lining of animals' mouths and nose and the band where the hoof stops and the skin starts.

Jeremy Adams, Cambridgeshire County Council leading trading standards officers on animal health, said: "The new control zone means that animals in the 20km control zone can only be moved out of zone for slaughter only in a move designed to reduce the spread of the disease.

"We would like to stress that there is no danger to public health, as Bluetongue cannot enter the food chain. Cambridgeshire County Council is in constant touch with DEFRA and is working with farmers throughout these difficult times.