MAFF officials have yet to decide whether animals buried at a second farm will have to be exhumed - but a spokesman said yesterday it was "unlikely".

Ministry officials must decide whether 1,100 carcasses at High Hedley Hope Farm, near Lanchester, County Durham, destroyed after becoming infected with foot-and- mouth, should be dug up because of the potential risk of BSE.

It was not until after the burial of the animals last week that Maff ruled that all animals aged five years and older should be burnt and not buried in case they could spread the disease.

Yesterday, a Maff spokesman said: "At the moment our experts consider it would actually be a greater risk to public health to dig these animals up than leave them but a final decision has yet to be made."

Another 900 dead animals were dug up on Low Houselop Farm, at nearby Tow Law, at the weekend because of fears they could have infected a nearby spring.

Read more about Foot-and-Mouth here.