MID Worcestershire MP Peter Luff and Conservative MEP Philip Bushill-Matthews visited the Throckmorton mass animal burial site yesterday (Wednesday) to see for themselves the progress being made in the disposal of carcasses.

Afterwards, Mr Luff said: "I am very impressed. It is being run with all the professionalism one would expect of the Army."

He added: "I am also impressed with the monitoring in place, and given that we have to have this facility in the area, it is being run as well as we could possibly hope."

Mr Luff said he still believed no burning should be allowed on the site and that, following his parliamentary question last week, he had been told by the Minister of State at MAFF, Joyce Quin that the community would be informed of any decision to burn animals there.

"It is clear that we must continue to be very vigilant on this point and it is important all elected representatives, from parish councils through to MEPs, are kept informed and continue to fight to prevent any burning," Mr Luff said.

He warned: "MAFF is finding it difficult to find places where burning can take place and it could easily be that Government will decide it is very convenient to use Throckmorton, so it is important to be on guard."

Another politician has not only seen for himself the effects of the epidemic, John Corrie, of Fladbury, Conservative MEP for the West Midlands region, has suffered at first hand.

One of his top pedigreed Belted Galloway cows, Park Sundance, and her calf have been culled. To make it worse, the cow was the last of a bloodline from his bull, Park That's Life, which was breed champion at the Royal Show, and Champion of Champions and winner at many other agricultural shows.

Mr Corrie said: "I had great hopes that that the cow would follow in his footsteps, to the extent that she was being given special attention from my retired stockman on a nearby farm, which has since come within the scope of the disease with dire results."

He added: "I have been keeping my fingers crossed that my herd on my farm in south west Scotland would escape, even though there have been too many cases of the disease for comfort."

Mr Corrie said: "I have been expressing my sympathies for farmers who have had their herds culled and now realise the true extent of their personal tragedy and fully understand the trauma they are going through."