Crisis in Wales

Total confirmed cases UK-wide 2,030 - with 118 in Wales Powys - 78 cases Anglesey - 13 cases Monmouthshire - 21 cases Caerphilly - 2 Rhondda Cynon Taff - 1 Neath-Port Talbot -1 Newport - 3

Twelve months ago the first case of foot-and-mouth in Wales was confirmed at an abattoir on Gaerwen on Anglesey.

It was the first of 118 cases which spread to farms - first across the north Wales island and then onto swathes of Powys and Monmouthshire with thousands of animals having to be culled.

Isolated cases were even uncovered in Rhondda Cynon Taff and Neath Port Talbot.

The lucrative tourist industry in large areas of Wales was put on hold for much of last summer.

Major events including the Royal Welsh Show and the Urdd Eisteddfod were cancelled.

It was also the beginning of a crisis which was to leave a trail of devastation and cost Wales an estimated £500m.

Fresh fears of foot-and-mouth were partly allayed on Wednesday, when initial results showed that two sheep tested at a farm near Thirsk in north Yorkshire did not have the disease.

Two sheep had been slaughtered and livestock movements banned within a five-mile radius of the suspect farm as a precaution.

Government vets warned that it would be another four days before the negative results could be confirmed.

The virus had a huge impact in Wales

A fresh case of foot-and-mouth disease would have huge implications for the industry, which is just beginning to restock farms and operate livestock marts again.

It would also impact on the export market which is just beginning to re-emerge.

A year ago it was confirmed that a lamb which had been brought down from Yorkshire to the Welsh Country Foods Abattoir at Gaerwen on Anglesey did have foot-and-mouth.

The disease then spread speedily, with the brunt of the epidemic being felt in Powys where farm after farm was forced to cull livestock.

One measure taken to stop the spread across the Brecon Beacons was a cull of the hefted flocks which had been raised there for generations.

Legal battle

It has also emerged that campaigners who waged a long campaign against the disposal of almost 40,000 animal carcasses on the Epynt ranges in mid Wales are considering legal action against the government.

A new report from the Environment Agency has revealed that the effects of the disease have been "short-term and localised".

Protesters opposed carcass disposal at Epynt

However, the agency said it cannot be sure the burial of carcasses will not have a long-term impact on groundwater.

The agency is continuing to monitor the problem closely.

It also warns of a legacy of mass burial sites which will need to be monitored well into the future.

Seventeen thousand tonnes of ashes were eventually removed from the Epynt site in sealed containers.

But the long term implications of the animal disposal there remain unclear.

Meanwhile. the assembly agriculture committee is to scrutinise Rural Affairs Minister Carwyn Jones's handling of the outbreak in Wales on Wednesday.

The report being presented to the committee is a chronological blow-by-blow account of what happened.

It also underlines how the assembly has much fewer power than the Scottish Parliament in dealing with the crisis.