Foot_Mouth

FAIR ISLE COMMUNITY FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE PRECAUTIONS

VISITOR CODE OF CONDUCT

This code of conduct was agreed upon by the majority of the Fair Isle Community at a meeting held on 26th March 2001. It is based on the current Foot and Mouth situation in Mainland Britain and may change at any time if the situation there was to change dramatically.

All travellers to Fair Isle, be they holiday makers, friends, family or Islanders themselves are being asked to follow this advice to avoid endangering livestock.

The Code

Do not touch or feed livestock.

Avoid areas where the ground is heavily used by livestock eg farm steadings, yards, feeding areas and gateways.

Do not leave waste or scraps of food or litter. Do not bring dogs to the Island.

Obey official signs.

Respect advisory signs and requests from crofters and other land managers.

The virus can remain active for up to 3 days in the summer and up to 2 weeks in dried mud or dung on clothing, shoes equipment etc. It can however, be killed by heat or disinfectants.

In addition to the above precautions, therefore, the Fair Isle Community request that each traveller also adheres to the following conditions:

All visitors should disinfect / thoroughly wash their outdoor shoes / boots, outdoor clothing, tripods, walking sticks etc ONE WEEK before they travel and not use them again between that time and their arrival on Fair Isle. For washing / disinfecting purposes, Dettol or another household disinfectant or soap and hot water will be sufficient.

All visitors should not visit any area known to be at risk for at least two weeks prior to their visit to Fair Isle.

All travellers to Fair Isle will be requested to stand on a disinfectant mat on arrival at the airstrip or pier.

On arrival at their place of accommodation (Bird Observatory, croft, other accommodation outlet etc) all visitors will be asked to unpack their outdoor clothing and footwear so that it can be disinfected / washed down again.

All visitors will be informed clearly of any `out of bounds' areas.

The Fair Isle Community welcome visitors to Fair Isle and are confident that with these measures in place visitors will be able to enjoy their holiday / visit to the Isle with minimum restrictions.