Farmers and Badgers
With no conclusive link found between badgers and bovine TB it seems only sensible to have an expensive cull of badgers. As long as the farmers are kept happy why not add more deaths to the list of horrors performed by the dairy industry.
A CULL of badgers as part of a £27m, three-year drive to eradicate bovine TB in Wales has edged closer following an inquiry by AMs into the disease.
The Assembly’s rural development sub-committee recommended trial culls in a clearly defined pilot area as part of a broad push against bTB, including annual testing of cattle, increased biosecurity and continued cull of reactors.
But rural affairs minister Elin Jones wouldn’t confirm if she would act on the cull recommendation.
“We have £27m set aside for the next three years to create a programme to eradicate TB,” said the minister.
“It’s high on my agenda and it’s a commitment of the One Wales Government to move forward on this.”
The report highlights a “real link” between bTB in cattle and wildlife, and says the disease cannot be controlled, let alone eradicated, by one method alone.
Around 6,000 reactors are removed in Wales each year with compensation costs estimated to reach £15m this year.
Badger Trust Cymru welcomed the recognition that bTB is primarily spread by cattle and exacerbated by an inadequate TB testing regime.
The incidence of bTB in Northern Ireland was reduced by 40% in one year by improving the testing regime.
Trust spokesman Mike Sharratt said a badger-culling trial in Wales would serve “no useful purpose”.
Instead it would make more sense to spend the money on grants to help farmers keep badgers out of farm buildings. Research showed 94% of farm buildings are currently accessible to badgers.
“A cheap electric fence is all that’s needed to prevent direct contact between cattle and badgers,” he said.
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