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'Death sentence' placed on badgers

WESTERN TELEGRAPH
11:20am Sunday 3rd April 2011

A failed motion to annul the planned badger cull to control bovine TB in north Pembrokeshire has been labeled a “death sentence” by a wildlife group.

The Badger Trust stated it was deeply disappointed that The Badger (Control Area) (Wales) Order 2011 is not to be annulled, calling it a “death sentence for badgers”.

The motion, tabled by four Assembly Members at the Senedd, failed last week.

Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones welcomed the support received from Assembly Members.

She said: “It is important to remember that the culling of badgers will not be carried out in isolation but alongside the continued additional cattle controls and improved biosecurity measures that have been in place.

“This is only one part of a larger programme to pursue the eradication of bovine TB in Wales by dealing effectively with all main sources of infection.”

The Badger Trust is taking legal advice about the measures proposed and the reasons given for the decision, and says the proposal is unnecessary.

Dr Brian May, musician and astrophysicist, said: “Everybody who has studied the evidence, knows that it cannot work, and that the only true way to eliminate this disease is through better screening and movement controls in cattle farming.”

Rhys Sinnett, Plaid Cymru’s Preseli Pembrokeshire Assembly candidate, is calling for an opt-out option for landowners.

He said: “I am calling on the minister to give careful thought to not authorising forced entry to any property where the landowner objects, to at least spare the people of north Pembrokeshire the spectacle of farm-gate confrontations as happened last year.”`

 

 

 

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