May 4, 2001

12:40 PM

Woman's sheep killed in her living roomafter she blockaded them and herself indoors to stop the foot-and-mouth related culling (this link is slightly behind the news, which was following this Very Important Story minute by minute, including an Sheep Cam inside the house).
posted by methylsalicylate (15 comments total)

> The ruling also left more than 30 members of the media
> stranded at her house, which immediately became an
> infected area.

Media? They're infected. Sacrifice 'em.
posted by jfuller at 12:47 PM on May 4, 2001

when did this virus start being known as 'foot-and-mouth' disease?

just before this latest outbreak it was known as 'HOOF-and-mouth'.

or is someone spending a LOT of time and energy preparing for a really big punchline?
posted by jcterminal at 1:17 PM on May 4, 2001

Hoof and mouth is a long-obsolete, mainly US variant of the name. Since the disease has not been present in the US for 71 years, the US name hasn't seen much use -- though it does google out at almost three times as many hits.
posted by dhartung at 1:27 PM on May 4, 2001

I've been wondering that myself, jc. I just did some quick research via Google and, apparently, here in the US it's known as "hoof and mouth," while the British call it "foot and mouth". Since this outbreak has been in Europe, we're hearing a lot of "foot and mouth".
posted by jpoulos at 1:28 PM on May 4, 2001

dan: great minds, etc etc...
posted by jpoulos at 1:29 PM on May 4, 2001

Um...not to nit-pick but I don't see anywhere that they were "killed in her living room". I'm just saying is all...
posted by jpoulos at 1:37 PM on May 4, 2001

ok cool. thanks for the info guys.
posted by jcterminal at 1:40 PM on May 4, 2001

Poor sheep. Poor woman. That is pretty fucked up. I mean, it is sick enough that 2.5 million animals were slaughtered because of this (or was it 25 million?) but these were a woman's pets. If a similar virus was to spread among cats or dogs don't you think the government would have taken a different attitude...
Or if it had been people...
posted by TiggleTaggleTiger at 2:12 PM on May 4, 2001

thank god this sort of thing never happens in america!

</sarcasm>
posted by jcterminal at 2:33 PM on May 4, 2001

I thought of that tiggle, but it's not a direct analogy. Americans tend not to keep livestock as pets--nor do they eat cats and dogs (not that Brits make a habit of either). It's a terrible tragedy, but it seems to me a necessary evil.
posted by jpoulos at 2:43 PM on May 4, 2001

And people don't keep thousands of pets or dogs together in a small space as they do with livestock. So no wildfire epidemics.
posted by argybarg at 2:52 PM on May 4, 2001

yes, but was she having sex with the animals, too?
posted by matteo at 3:32 PM on May 4, 2001

I thought foot in mouth was reserved for politicians, oh that's right, that is head up ass.

We should have sent over some SWAT guys, maybe the same ones that snatched Elian last year.

Now that's entertainment !
posted by a3matrix at 3:58 PM on May 4, 2001

When they were covering this story live on the news they announced that the sheep were killed in the living room (where they had been living for the last week or so). The current link shows the story as they know it now. With the stories of animals being dispatched with shotguns the thought of her having to redecorate the lounge...
posted by Cuppatea at 4:43 PM on May 4, 2001

Well, they were just sheep, not cute white calves. So the "discretion" that saved Phoenix for this winter's panto performance of "Jack and the Beanstalk" didn't apply.
posted by holgate at 6:10 PM on May 4, 2001