Memorial...
Not long after moving to Greenwich I spotted this memorial in a small garden by the Thames, near The Cutty Sark Tavern.
It reads:
"In memory of the uncounted millions of animals who died not of foot and mouth but of the cure for foot and mouth"
Despite vaccines and treatment being available, often a cull occurs when there is a foot and mouth disease outbreak. This is primarily so that they have a greater export market as animals can be considered both foot and mouth and vaccine free. When outbreaks do occur, not only are infected animals and their herds killed but often animals in the surrounding area.
In 2001 an outbreak of foot and mouth disease occurred in the UK and millions of animals were killed over several months as a result (some reports suggest 6 million, others upwards of 20 million). This didn't just affect farmed animals but also companion and rescue animals. Some of the stories from this time were quite amazing. People forming human chains to protect animals on sanctuaries, people moving animals into their living rooms, court battles over if MAFF had the right to order the death of animals, lobbying both for and against vaccination, lots of confusion as to what was and wasn't allowed, ban on movement, impact on local tourism and so on.
There is another memorial at Mossburn Animal Centre- who fought off a dawn raid by MAFF and a number of legal challenges to save the animals at the sanctuary in 2001. Greenwich seems an odd place though for a memorial for the animals that died in the cull. I do wonder who made the memorial and why they placed it in a small garden, by the Thames in South-East London.