Apropos Chris Baker's report (Argus, February 28) on the length of journeys now endured by livestock which have escaped the purge of foot-and-mouth disease, I am beginning to wonder who is running this country - the bureaucrats in Maff or the Government?

In common with many others who witnessed the appalling travelling conditions suffered by the animals who were exported from Shoreham, I have been fighting not only the exportation of live animals (as opposed to "on the hook") but also the unnecessarily lengthy journeys to the few abattoirs which escaped closure by these over-zealous civil servants eager only to please our European masters in Brussels.

There was a time, before we succumbed to the yoke of Brussels, when there was an abattoir in each farming community, sometimes so close to the farms the animals could be walked to slaughter, thereby avoiding the stress and trauma endured in the nightmare transporter lorries which filled so many of us in Shoreham with revulsion and dread.

Having seen the appalling conditions in Europe, where EU dictats are ignored at will, the question has to be asked, as to when this country is going to stand up and be counted.

We can start with the staff at Maff who were quoted in Chris Baker's report. For them to claim "this is the best that could be managed" simply is not good enough, either for the poor animals or, indeed, the farmers.

From my dealings with Maff, it is clear the staff have little or no care about the welfare of livestock and it is this government department which should shoulder part of the blame for this latest disease outbreak.

If there had been more, smaller and more localised abattoirs, these disgracefully-long journeys across the length and breadth of the country could have been avoided, thereby doing away with the stress suffered by the animals - and, of course, the wide-ranging spread of this disease could have been avoided.

-Mrs Beryl Ferrers-Guy, Southview Road, Southwick