Viva! 8 York Court Wilder Street Bristol BS2 8QH Tel: 0117 944 1000 Fax: 0117 924 4646 email: media@viva.org.uk	22 February 2001 PROTECT US FROM FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE - CALL OFF THE COUNTRYSIDE MARCH! Animal welfare organisations including Viva!, PETA and Animal Aid today called upon the Countryside Alliance to cancel the Countryside March in light of the foot and mouth disease outbreak. The march is due to take place in London on Sunday March 18th. Farmers from across the country are due to converge on the capital to campaign for ‘rural issues’ - including the right to hunt and kill foxes. But campaigners today described the march plans as ‘reckless and irresponsible’. Foot-and-mouth disease can be carried by dust and vehicles as well as in the clothes of people who are in contact with animals. Pig Diseases says that the disease is “an acute and very contagious viral disease” which “can remain infective... for 4 weeks on hair, 15 weeks on leather and 20 weeks on hay or straw at room temperature.” (1) “If the Countryside Alliance are genuinely concerned about the countryside, it is their duty to call off this march,” says Viva! spokesperson Becky Smith. “The consequences would be catastrophic. Thousands of farmers will be crowded together in the streets of London and this highly infectious virus could spread like wildfire.” 1. D.J. Taylor, Pig Diseases - seventh edition. Published by the author, 1999. Ends More information from Becky Smith on 0117 944 1000 or contact the press office at Animal Aid on 01732 364546 or PETA on 0208 870 3966