1 / 9

Conservation Efforts for Rare Breeds in the UK

Explore the initiatives undertaken to safeguard rare breed animals in the UK, including culling exemptions, gene banks, and public awareness campaigns, highlighting the importance of preserving genetic diversity for future generations.

tamera
Download Presentation

Conservation Efforts for Rare Breeds in the UK

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. FMD - Saving Rare Breeds Mike Roper UK National Co-ordinator

  2. FMD - Statistics < 15.8.01 • Total slaughterings: 3,756,000 animals • on 1950 infected premises • + 3013 contiguous premises • + 3879 dangerous contacts • + 244 “on suspicion”

  3. Main Features • First identified in pigs at an abattoir • Likely source - contaminated pig swill • Spread to sheep flock (18.5m ewes) • Spread mainly by direct contact • Difficult to diagnose in sheep

  4. The Problem for FAnGR • Contiguous culling/dangerous contacts within surveillance zones • Concentrations of rare genotypes within breed • Genotype/Environment relationships - “hefted sheep” breeds • species differences in risk analysis

  5. Actions Taken - 1 • Culling exemptions for rare breeds of sheep and goats • risk analysis • biosecurity • isolation • serological testing • identification of “at risk” flocks by map ref.

  6. Actions Taken - 2 • The Heritage Gene Bank • co-funding with MAFF • hefted flocks of Herdwick sheep • cryopreservation (ram semen) • problem of seasonality of breeding • addition of Rough Fell and Portland Breeds

  7. Action taken - 3 • RBST • cattle/pig gene banks in existence • new collections of semen from 6 rare sheep breeds in uninfected areas - Castlemilk Morrit, Norfolk Horn, White Faced Woodland, Teeswater, Grey Faced Dartmoor, Leicester Longwool. • Fund raising campaign for Rare Breed Genebank

  8. Action taken - 4 • British Pig Association • Welsh Black under threat • problem of infectivity of the pig • exemptions for pigs, cattle and other species • as for sheep & goats but more restrictive

  9. Positive outcomes • Public awareness & funding of FAnGR • Political awareness of FAnGR • Recognition of need for National Consultative Committee and National Action Plan • Springboard for FAO Report on SoW AnGR • Importance of Gene Banks

More Related