FARMERS on Exmoor are facing impossible choices as livestock losses to bluetongue disease mount at an unsustainable rate, MP Rachel Gilmour has told the Government.

Mrs Gilmour wants urgent Government financial and practical support for farmers most severely affected by bluetongue, which is spread by midges.

She has written to Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Angela Eagle to update her on the ‘rapidly escalating spread’ of the disease on Exmoor, which is the worst affected area in the country.

Mrs Gilmour said: “Farmers are facing impossible choices in managing their livestock during the current period of extreme heat.

“To safeguard animal welfare, many have moved stock closer to water sources to keep them cool.

“Yet, these are precisely the environments where midge activity is highest, increasing the risk of further transmission.

“Farmers are therefore caught in the impossible situation of choosing between protecting their animals from the heat and exposing them to greater disease risk.

“The scale and urgency of this crisis cannot be overstated.”

Mrs Gilmour said livestock losses were now mounting at an unsustainable rate with deadstock collectors increasingly unable to keep pace with demand and capacity being pushed to breaking point.

Up to 100 carcasses a day were being collected at a cost of £27 for each removal.

Mrs Gilmour said the number of cases in Devon and Somerset had doubled to 262 in just the past week.

She said: “Farmers feel they have been left on their own to cope, and that cannot continue.

“This is not only having an effect on the livestock and farms, but on farmers and the people around them.

“We know that suicide rates among farmers are higher than the national average.

“I want farmers to know that I will always be there for them, and that I will hold the Government to account.”