Foot and Mouth Means No Photo Ops

Macedonia, OH-based Creative Irish Gifts doesn’t sell much in the way of leather. Nonetheless, foot and mouth disease poses a creative problem for the gifts cataloger. “I travel to Ireland about every two years to take scenic photos for the covers, and we’ve exhausted our supply from my last trip,” says chief operating officer Rory O’Connor. But Ireland, which experienced its first case of foot and mouth disease on March 22, has blocked off some parts of the countryside to avoid the spread of the disease. “Right now, there are still parts of the countryside that are not blocked off. But if there is another outbreak before I’m scheduled to leave [in April], then I’m not going to go,” O’Connor says.