New Zealand agricultural history. No 2. Importing exotic sheep breeds

Scrapie in UK

Cause of Scrapie
Scrapie history in New Zealand

By Dr Clive Dalton

Scrapie was a major importation risk and this certainly worried a lot of people both in New Zealand and in UK.  

Scrapie in UK

Scrapie is endemic in UK, and we budding young shepherds used to see what must have been the disease in Cheviots and Scottish Blackface sheep on my native Scottish Border. Sick sheep used to act a ‘bit daft’ and scrape their wool off by rubbing against stonewalls and fences – hence the name. but no farmer would ever have dreamed of getting a vet to look at a sheep – they would have cost money!  Scrapie wasn’t common in UK, but it has a fearsome reputation for countries like New Zealand that want to claim a ‘clean health’ status, especially for exporting animals. 

(See Wikipedia for full details of Scrapie).

In the UK in recent years a testing programme was undertaken to eliminate Scrapie from the Swaledale breed, so it must have been serious enough to go to all the work and cost involved. 

 In the past, it was not easy to diagnose, as it required slaughter and examination of brain tissue. Brains are still examined today but there are now other fancy DNA diagnostic tools that can be used.

 Picture shows Swaledale ewes in their native Swale dale in Yorkshire, England

Cause of Scrapie

The organism causing Scrapie is a prion, which is a protein, and is most commonly spread from ewe to lamb at birth in all the birth fluids and close contact although a lot of this is still a mystery.  A prion has no DNA and multiplies by simply duplicating itself like the growth of a crystal.

The problem with Scrapie is that it develops slowly and is usually only seen in sheep around 3-5 years of age. So this is the challenge for quarantine which consequently has to go on for years, and greatly increases the cost of importations and especially if in the end, animals have to be slaughtered.

So nobody would risk buying sheep (or goats which can also carry Scrapie) from New Zealand if it was ever shown to become endemic here.

It’s always easy to show that a country has a disease; the hard part is proving that it has been eliminated with a high level of guarantee.  New Zealand’s trading competitors love this and just keep on demanding more data before they will relax their import regulations for New Zealand produce.  We live with this as a daily threat.

Scrapie history in New Zealand

This photo tells a bit of important history in the study of Scrapie.  

Dr R.H. Kimberlin who is the world authority on such diseases visited New Zealand and Alan spent time with him.  He was a valuable resource to check diagnostic criteria on such diseases.

Kimberlin edited the 'bible' on the subject. See reference below:
'Slow virus diseases of animals and man'.  New Holland Research Monograph, Volume 44.

Photo:  Dr Kimberin standing, Alan Julian at microscope.  Photo by Alan Julian

Veterinary pathologist Alan Julian gave a paper in 1996 to a workshop in Australia on a range of nasties called ‘spongiform encephalopathies’ in domestic animals where he reported the Scrapie saga in New Zealand.  Here are the key points:

•  Scrapie was diagnosed for the first time in New Zealand in June 1952 in two Suffolk sheep in Canterbury imported from England in 1950.
• Farm was quarantined and all sheep on property were destroyed.
• All sheep sold from this property in the previous 3 years (a total of 225) were traced. (Presumably they were sent to the meat works).  
• The farm was restocked 4 weeks after slaughter. 
• Control measures were not effective as in 1954 an outbreak in Southland in a South Suffolk ewe was traced back to the Canterbury property.
•   Control measures for this outbreak involved 191 properties, with the slaughter and burial of 4,399 sheep. (Presumed they were sent to the meat works).  
• The farms had restrictions put on them for 3 years during which time all sheep sold from the properties had to go direct to slaughter. 

 
No other outbreaks were ever recorded so New Zealand was declared Scrapie free.  This saga was well documented and used for veterinary teaching, and it made the profession very determined never to allow it into NZ again!

Picture of Suffolk sheep - the breed that brought the Scrapie to New Zealand from England in 1950.

New Zealand agricultural history. No 8. Importing exotic sheep breeds

 Scrapie suspected at Mana Island quarantine station

 Confirmation by international expert Dr J.T. Stamp

Burning of carcases at Mana

By Dr Clive Dalton

Shock-horror at Mana Island. 

 Scrapie

A report in Surveillance Vol 5:4 1978 by MAF veterinarian Dave Collins reported that a clinical case of Scrapie was confirmed in an East Friesian ewe on Mana Island on 30 September 1976.  

 This triggered the following recommendations by a special technical committee set up to deal with the emergency:

• All the East Friesians should be destroyed because they were closely related and came originally from the same flock in the UK.  Finn sheep from the same property in UK, together with their purebred progeny and F1 crosses on Mana should also be destroyed. This was done.
•  The possibility of lateral spread of the disease to other exotic sheep and their crosses could not be ruled out, so the remaining sheep in quarantine on Mana and at Crater should be kept in quarantine for 5 more years.
•  If another Scrapie case occurred during this extended quarantine period, all sheep, which had been in direct or indirect contact with infected sheep would be destroyed.

 These first sheep (total of 300) were slaughtered and their carcases burned on Mana.               Photo by Ken Seecombe

More bad news - more Scrapie

But things got worse.  The disease was not eliminated with the slaughter of the East Friesians and some Finns on Mana, as it reappeared again that year (1978) in one of the remaining Finns. As a result the entire flock of 1900 head on Mana was slaughtered.

There were too many to contemplate building a funeral pyre, so they were  deep buried in a pit on the west side of the island.  All tags were removed from the carcasses before burial.

Wallaceville 2013 - Up for lease! A disgrace!
Photo: Allen Heath

John Dobbie remembers this well as he and the other Genetics technical staff of Tim Harvey and Ian Malthus ended up in the thick of it.  Another Finn ewe started to sicken John says late on a Friday, when public servants of course were heading home for the weekend.  

 So John had great difficulty finding someone in MAF Animal Health Division with the authority to move the sick sheep off the Island to be sent to Wallaceville Animal Health Laboratory in Upper Hutt, and he instructed Don Cameron who was OIC of Mana, to keep going up the bureaucratic pyramid till he found someone who would make a decision on the sheep’s fate – even if he had to end up with the Governor General!

Confirmation of Scrapie 

Veterinary pathologist Alan Julian who was on the Wallaceville staff at the time confirms that only the sheep’s brain arrived at Wallaceville, so the sheep must have breathed it’s last gasp on Mana.  Alan confirmed from examination of brain tissue that it was Scrapie without a doubt. 

Alan said that MAFTech didn’t like this news of course and demanded more proof, so the Chief Veterinary Officer George Adlam enlisted the services of Dr J.T. Stamp (Later Sir John), Director of the Moredun Research Institute in Edinburgh and a world authority on Scrapie. 

 
 Dr J.T. Stamp's arrival

Stamp was flown to New Zealand at government expense and MAF Head Office veterinarian Dr John Hellstrom remembers 'the great man' and a whole entourage of vets led by Adlam, being helicoptered to Somes Island and then to Mana Island with media in hot pursuit. 

This was red hot news! There were those who couldn't believe the disease had appeared after all the time in quarantine, but this was the nature of the disease. And there were those who were keen to shout - 'Didn't I tell you what would happen'!  

Photo: Dr John Hellstrom.  Words and Pictures photo 

'Och Aye' - it's Scrapie

Section of brain tissue showing vacuoles (holes) confirming Scrapie.  
Photo: Alan Julian who did the initial diagnosis

 MAF Head Office veterinarian Dr Peter O’Hara remembers having arranged a whole row of microscopes set up at Wallaceville with slides of brain tissue for Stamp to examine, and the good doctor declaring an ‘Och Aye’ after looking at each one. 

 There was no doubt it was Scrapie and Stamp’s unequivocal advice to Adlam was to slaughter all the sheep on Mana Island and Crater, and never run sheep again on these areas.

Alan Julian remembers Stamp as a canny wee Scot with a great sense of humour who enjoyed a wee dram.  The killing and burial of the flock on Mana started on 17 August 1978.  The photo below shows the pit dug, ready for the carcases on the cliff edge on the west side of the island - facing Australia!  
 

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Photographic records

Memories from Ken Seccombe

Ken Seccombe in his 

LO Days

I trained as a Livestock Instructor in the old Department of Agriculture, which subsequently changed to Livestock Officer (LO) and joined the MAF Animal Health Division Training Unit in Palmerston North at the end of 1975 as L.O. (Technical Training).

There were two vets in the Unit - Peter Trim and Terry Cook with Don Thomson as Divisional LO (Technical Training) and me. We also had admin staff and a graphic artist.

The Unit was tasked with technician training for the Tb. and brucellosis eradication schemes as well as exotic disease training for vets and LO's.

The Training Unit directed by Peter Trim developed resources for extension activities which included audio visual aids such as OHP transparencies and 35mm slides (video was not yet in common use).

My existing interest in photography was put to good use in building the Training Unit's slide library. The Unit didn't even have a camera to start with and I remember using my own Minolta SLR to take 15,000 slides in my first year.

Given this background, it was logical that I was included in the LO team sent to Mana Island to dispose of the East Friesian flock in 1976, with the primary objective of eliminating the source of Scrapie, but the secondary purpose was to test and record the methods of disposal.

I was the ‘official’ photographer and I recorded each step involved in the slaughter (by captive bolt pistols), transport, and stacking of the carcasses, building the funeral pyre and the lighting and burning of the pyre until the ash was buried. In addition to 35mm slides I took some Super 8mm film on a camera I borrowed from the Flock House Audio Visual Unit.

The slides were used extensively for training purposes; the movie film less so due to a lack of Super 8mm projectors. I recall some attempt to convert the film to video through the Flock House tele-cine chain but I don't think it was very successful.

In 1978 I was again sent to Mana for the disposal of the remaining flock as due to the much larger number, the decision was made to bury the carcasses, and again I recorded every step from digging the trench to covering the carcasses.

TVNZ was permitted to send a camera crew over to record some of the activities and their footage should still be in their archives. I remember conning a ride on their helicopter to get some aerial shots of the site.  From Mana Island I went to Rotorua and observed and recorded the slaughter and disposal of the Crater Block sheep.

In 1980 I resigned from MAF to set up my own training consultancy. I've often wondered what happened to all the training resources, including the slide library after the Unit was disbanded. I only hope that someone was savvy enough to ensure this irreplaceable piece of our agricultural history wasn't discarded!

Photo by Ken Seecombe after hitching a ride on TVNZ chopper
 

Bush on Mana in 2015.  Photo by Jim Hammond

Wetland area on Mana in 2015.  Photo by Jim Hammond

Storage sheds on Mana in 2015. Storage sheds.  Photo by Jim Hammond

New Zealand agricultural history. No 9. Importing exotic sheep breeds

Scrapie confirmed on Mana Island quarantine station

Slaughter of sheep  on Mana Island

Burial of sheep on Mana Island

By Dr Clive Dalton

Slaughter and burial at Mana

The funeral pyre for 300 sheep on Mana Island.  Photo by Tim Harvey

 When the first 300 East Friesians and Finns were destroyed on Mana on 3-4 August 1976, their carcasses were burned, as the numbers were small compared to the flock of 1900 in 1978 that  had to be buried on site.

The sheep up in flames.  Photo: Alan Julian

John Dobbie remembers getting a phone at Ruakura call saying –‘get to Mana ASAP and take two captive bolt pistols with you’.  He discussed this with Ruakura director and veterinarian Dr Gordon Edgar, who told him to keep them well out of sight of the pubic in case somebody saw them and called the cops!  Animal Health Division Livestock Officers did all the slaughter.

John remembers having to arrange for a large barge from Nelson, as local ones were too small to get a D6 bulldozer from Mana beach (the wharf was not strong enough) to Mana Island.  Before the D6 got on board the barge, the driver had to push up a ramp of shingle to get aboard the barge. Getting off on Mana beach was no problem John said.

The barge at Mana wharf used to transport the D6 to the island.  Photo by Tim Harvey.

It was not easy digging in the volcanic Mana terrain and it needed a powerful machine was needed. It took 3.5 days to dig the pit – 50m long x 8m wide x 5m deep, which was bigger than needed but did allow for a cover of 3m of soil. 

The whole slaughter and burial operation took 29 people 2.5 days to complete, including the removal of 300 brains for histopathological examination, as well as recording the number of foetuses present in the pregnant ewes, cleaning and disinfection of the slaughter area – and filming, presumably for posterity. I wonder where the film is now?

The burial pit on the west side of the island.  
Photo by Alan Julian

 Mana is now a very popular Department of Conservation reserve with resident ranger, with an undisturbed population of Weta.  It will never see livestock again.   But one cunning stoat swam there in 2012 from the mainland and was not welcome, and cost many thousands of dollars to get rid of.

MAF staff involved in sheep slaughter (John Dobbie's memory) -  Nick Dimmock, 
Garry Trow, Neville Ames, Don Cameron, Charles Grbic.  
Photo: Alan Julian

The sheep  in the burial pit on Mana Island after counting lambs in utero. The D6 bulldozer is filling in the hole.  
Photo by Alan Julian

New Zealand agricultural history. No 10. Importing exotic sheep breeds

Lands and Survey Crater Block quarantine station

Collection of data from sheep breeds

Scrapie confirmed

Slaughter and burial of sheep

By Dr Clive Dalton

Data from Crater

The Crater flock  of 5192 ewes waiting for their slaughter. 
Photo by Ken Seecombe

 The data that were initially obtained on the exotic sheep breeds from the Mana Island quarantine station, and then the extra data that were being collected from the sheep at Crater, certainly excited the scientists. The Finn had boosted lambing percentage beyond belief, and the East Friesian and Oxford had given lamb growth and carcass a massive lift too.

Dr Roland Sumner

Despite wool not being a priority for the importation, Dr Rowland Sumner MAF’s specialist wool scientist on the staff at Whatawhata collected plenty of data at Crater.   He recalls taking a team down to Crater in 1977 on his return from a Ph.D. in Australia, and mid-side clipping over a 1000 exotic hoggets. 

There were six staff and six sets of clippers going with Roland measuring the size of the patch the wool came off, and then calling out the dimensions of the patch to the records technician. As this was only done once, the data collected was of no real use in the end, and was trashed after the sheep were slaughtered.

Slaughter at Crater

Things had been going well at Crater with sheep numbers multiplying and geneticists getting good data about what the breeds could contribute to the industry.  But as soon as the bad news from Mana got to the technical staff at Crater (Tim Harvey, John Dobbie, Ian Malthus, Sid Keane, Rob French, Bruce Trust and Denys Guyton), there was massive panic and disappointment.  It was hard for everyone to take in after all their hard work, but the axe had to fall on all the Crater sheep.

The big crater at Crater

The exotics final resting place - dug by the Ministry of Works.  
Photo by Ken Seecombe

 Slaughter and burial of the 5192 sheep at Crater was done over the 15, 16 and 17 August 1978 by MAF Animal Health Division Livestock Officers under MAF vets’ supervision.

Ian Malthus said he and Tim Harvey built a raised double race with a walkway between them for the stunners to operate from. After all the sheep in the race were stunned by captive bolt, they were rolled on to a waiting truck for delivery to the mass grave. 

Slaughter race.  Photo by Ken Seecombe

The guys stacking the truck slit each sheep’s throat with a knife, to make sure they were dead – a messy and dangerous job with kicking bodies, blood spurting and sharp knives.  The Ruakura Genetics technical staff then had the next job of opening up the sheep to count the number of lambs in utero and position of presentation.  All tags were removed as part of this exercise.
Dr Neil Clarke assures me that a scientific paper was published from these data.

Ian Malthus said that the race worked so well that AHD filmed and measured it all, with the intention of building a mobile version that could be quickly sent anywhere in the country if needed.  I wonder where are these plans are now in MPI, when (not if) they were ever needed again?

Hamilton Regional Veterinary Officer (RVO) Frank Williams controlled the work of Animal Health Division (AHD) Livestock Officers, and provision of all materials and facilities needed for the slaughter. Sam Jamieson as Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) was in overall control from Wellington.  

 It would have been interesting to have heard Sam’s views when all this slaughter was going on – as it must have been very tempting for him to be dining out on a ‘what did I tell you’ – and plenty of sad Och Ayes!

Moving slaughtered sheep. Photo by Ken Seecombe

Former Livestock Officer (LO) Dave Clapham from the Hamilton MAF office was part of the slaughter team directed to Crater along with colleagues Dave Scott, John McCandlish, Grant Litchtwark, Alan Cato with Colin Latham as their slaughter supervisor.  

Brian Fraser as the Seniour LO in the Hamilton office used to officially visit the mayhem, but Dave says only got in the way and never did any work! The LO working day was from 8am to 5pm day and Dave said that was enough for anyone. They were accommodated in Rotorua at the Queen’s expense and they needed it!

David Clapham

Dave remembers a problem that because of the raised race the sheep were held in for stunning, the LOs had to work at an angle which must have had an effect on the angle the bolt went into the top of the sheeps’ heads. and hence the effect of the stun. So he remembers a complaint coming down to Colin Latham from the Ruakura Technical team that some sheep were not being completely killed and were still kicking when they had to be opened up by the Ruakura technicians to count the lambs. 

This was not just nasty – it was seriously dangerous.  So from then on, the LOs had to cut the throats of all sheep immediately after stunning which slowed up the job, and greatly added to the mess.

Dave being an ex-front row forward was no wimp, by he admits after the first day or so of the misery, the job got to him with all the blood around – and he wasn’t alone.  But he says it was the camaraderie of being in a group with his mates, and a bit of good humoured banter that kept them going.

Ian Malthus remembers that the Crater technical staff were officially not allowed near the slaughter, and only weighed the animals immediately before slaughter. They were also banned from any involvement with the LO staff, but one or two of them broke the rules and watched some of the gruesome work, even lunching with the LOs afterwards.

John Dobbie recalls the slaughter as an awful experience.  Anybody like John and Tim Harvey who had worked with sheep all their lives, and who don’t mind having to kill one or two sheep for the house or the dogs – but the prospect of facing the death of thousands and seeing them being pushed into a big and very bloody hole and heaped up by a bulldozer, was not a nice experience or memory to this day.

John remembers the physical difficulty of pulling each ewe on to its back to get at the belly, then cutting her open to expose the uterus and collect the data both on the side of the hole and down in the hole. The job was totally exhausting and very demoralizing for everyone after so much expectation from the project.

Photos shows ewes being opened up to count lambs in utero and ovulation rates from their ovaries. Photo by Ken Seecombe


 There was also concern by MAF research staff about what would happen to their jobs now this major project, which would have given work for years, had literally been buried?

All I can add after hearing from the folk who did all this traumatic work is - God help us when (not if) we get Foot and Mouth disease and have many millions of animals to slaughter, as there are no Livestock Officers left with the skills needed in the MPI new structure .  There is no way we could  cope!

Pinus radiata Crater
Now no more pasture grows on Crater as no livestock will ever be allowed to graze there.  Pinus radiata rule supreme. 

You have to wonder what will happen over time.  Some future archeological dig will get a surprise and hopefully they’ll come to the right conclusion when they find 2000 skulls with holes in the top of them!

Crater's Radiata pines a couple of years after the sheep.  Photo by Ken Seecombe