The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease on farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million cows and sheep were slaughtered on farms in an eventually successful attempt to halt the disease.[1] Cumbria was the worst affected area of the country, with 893 cases.
With the intention of controlling the spread of the disease, public rights of way across land were closed by order. This damaged the popularity of rural areas such as Wales, Cornwall and the Lake District as tourist destinations and led to the cancellation of that year's Cheltenham Festival, as well as the British Rally Championship for the 2001 season and delayed that year's general election by a month. Crufts, the international dog show, had to be postponed by 2 months from March to May 2001. By the time that the disease was halted in October 2001, the crisis was estimated to have cost the United Kingdom £8bn.
- ^ Knight-Jones, T. J.; Rushton, J (2013). "The economic impacts of foot and mouth disease – What are they, how big are they and where do they occur?". Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 112 (3–4): 161–173. doi:10.1016/j.prevetmed.2013.07.013. PMC 3989032. PMID 23958457.