Farmers in Co Louth are urging the Government to demand that the Northern authorities remove wild goats and deer in south Armagh.
They say the animals may have had contact with foot-and-mouth disease and could spread it to the South. It was learned this weekend that a number of Northern goats and deer - which may have had contact with domesticated animals - were not culled by the Northern authorities after the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. While all the wildlife, feral goats and deer on the Republic's side of the Border were killed by Army sharpshooters, a small number of animals in the North were left in situ by the authorities. An examination of culled wild goats in the Proleek area, the scene of the State's first and only case of foot-and-mouth disease, found that three of them had foot-and-mouth antibodies, indicating they had been exposed to the disease. This weekend, the Department of Agriculture of Northern Ireland, confirmed that not all wild goats and deer had been culled after the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at Meigh, in south Armagh.
Now, Cooley peninsula farmers are demanding that the Northern authorities kill all the remaining wild goats and deer in the area in case they might infect farms in the Republic.
Mr Raymond O'Malley, chairman of Co Louth Irish Farmers' Association, said he was horrified to learn that feral goats and deer had not been culled north of the Border.
"I am asking the Government to insist that the Northern authorities remove the remaining source of infection in the North. We had thought that they had all been removed," he said.
"We already know that goats which were killed in Proleek had antibodies and could have spread the disease. We now want the remaining deer and goats in the area removed," he said.
Mr O'Malley said that if there was another outbreak of the disease in the area farmers would be unable to cope, and so would their neighbours in the North.
"In south Armagh, British army helicopters are more numerous than cars and I cannot understand why the wildlife north of the Border was not removed," he said.
He said that he would be asking the Government to insist on the instant removal by Northern authorities of any remaining goats and deer which presented a threat to domestic animals in the area.
The spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in the North said at the weekend that very small numbers of wild animals were involved.
"There are small numbers of wild goats and a few deer left on the Northern side of the Cooley peninsula in south Armagh. We asked veterinary experts the dangers they presented and they concluded it was minimal," he said.
"Feral goats and deer avoid contact with domesticated animals and the decision was taken not to cull them. We are satisfied that they present no danger to farm animals in the area," he said.
He said that farmed deer and goats, considered susceptible animals, had been culled because they presented a danger, but because of the small number of wild animals, a cull was not considered necessary.