Responses to a consultation into the future of the Inverness veterinary disease surveillance centre confirm (DSC) the strong opposition to its proposed closure.
SRUC, which runs the centre on behalf of the Scottish Government, launched a consultation earlier this year into plans to close the centre.
Closure of the site has been met with strong opposition by farmers and vets who warn it could result in producers from the Highlands and islands having to take animal carcases for post-mortem to centres in either Thurso, Perth or Aberdeenshire.
SRUC also proposed training vets to carry out post-mortems or starting up a collection service for carcases.
The consultation closed last month and a summary report published by SRUC reveals the strong feeling of discontent towards the plans.
The report states: “There was strong opposition to the closure of the Inverness DSC. There was a widespread belief that loss of the service would have a damaging impact on the viability of livestock farming in the region.
“Respondents accepted that the resource was currently under-used but believed that retention of the facility was important ‘insurance’ for the livestock health in the region.”
It mentioned a response from a group of 20 vets from across the region, who said they were against the closure plans and would not be prepared to carry out post-mortems.
The report continued: “There was no enthusiasm for a carcase collection service as the respondents considered the distances travelled and the complexity of setting up such an arrangement in this area would be prohibitively expensive and time delays would result in unsuitable material being presented for examination.”
SRUC said the results of the consultation were discussed in a meeting of the colleges strategic management board and government on July 23.
It said the next step to finalising any changes would be the submission of recommendations by the board to farm minister Richard Lochhead.
“Final decisions are dependent on the outcome of these discussions and will be made public in due course,” said SRUC.