- A major precautionary alert was put in place at Spink near Abbeyleix on Friday 23rd March . Gardai and Dept. of Agriculture officials sealed off a farm in the area which was suspected to have had contact with animals from Northern Ireland. There has been one case so far in N.I. and one in Co. Louth, within 10k of each other. Laois Civil Defence was called in to assist the Gardai and DofA with the operation. Large scale searches were mounted in nearby forestry to find stray animals from the farm in question. C.D. personnel also assisted with transporting the animals which were found in these searches. Disinfection procedures were also set up at all locations where operations took place. The animals on the farm were culled on Sunday 25th. All tests have proven negative for the virus at this point, but the operation will continue until the area has been declared completely safe.

	C.D. members in the process of extricating a calf from a ditch at the main search location.
	C.D. personnel also provided the all-important tea and salad rolls as part of the welfare service contribution to the operation.
	An admittedly poor shot of the Garda Air Support Unit helicopter which provided a thermal imagery search of very dense cover on Sunday Morning.

ends