Farmer tells of devastation

Sally Hepplethwaite, 69, told BBC News that her pigs, cattle and sheep had been culled at The Klondyke Farm. She kept the animals mostly as pets and said that two of her lambs would sleep in the kitchen at the farm near Egham, Surrey.

"It's so quiet out there now, it's just so sad," she told the BBC. "I have no idea how the disease got here."

She praised officials from Department for Food Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra), saying they stayed with the family whilst the animals were being killed.

The farm is the third to be hit by the latest outbreak and confirmation that Mrs Hepplethwaite's animals were infected came after the disease was spotted on cattle belonging to farmer Robert Lawrence who owns Hardwick Park Farm just 500 yards up the road from The Klondyke.

The latest case, within the protection zone in Surrey, came just as the outbreak appeared to have been contained. Farmers outside the stricken area were permitted to start taking their animals to slaughter again on Sunday after transport restrictions were relaxed by Defra.

Before Monday night no further instances of the disease had been reported since slaughtered cattle were found to be infected at two farms in the area last week.

Minor changes have now been made to the protection and surveillance zones as a result of the new case and further lab tests are being done on the animals.

A Defra spokeswoman said that results of those tests would be issued on Wednesday.

The new cases are thought to involve the same strain of disease as that found in animals culled last month at the village of Normandy near Guilford.