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Farmers urged to lay off badgers

A worrying factor here is the idea of culling badgers anyway without going to the expense of annual cattle testing, to see if TB is even present !!!!

FARMERS GUARDIAN
1 June 2011

THE industry must be wary of vilifying badgers and concentrate on TB eradication as a whole issue, the Question Time panel at last week’s Beef Expo warned.

Addressing questions raised about TB, Agriculture Minister Jim Paice said the Government would be making an announcement on a badger cull in the ‘not too distant future; before the end of July’ as part of a comprehensive TB strategy - not just a decision on culling badgers.

He apologised for the delay to the plan, but stressed ‘nobody is as keen as me to get on with it.’

He said the consultation carried out last autumn had thrown up a number of practical challenges which had to be addressed. There was no doubt the Badger Trust would try to apply for a Judicial Review if the Government announced a cull, and it had to be able to withstand that.

Warning

In the meantime, he warned the industry against talking about the wider problems badgers can cause in the countryside as it gave the general public the impression farmers just wanted to kill badgers, rather than tackle the disease.

Answering calls for nationwide yearly TB testing, Mr Paice said he believed it would not be cost-effective. While there were sporadic outbreaks in non-TB hotspots (such as the recent case in Cumbria), he said, the long-term spread of the disease was ‘pushing boundaries’ of existing hotspots and did not justify the cost of country-wide annual testing.

Livestock Auctioneers Association executive secretary Chris Dodds disagreed: “We do need annual testing and cost should not be what prevents that.”

Away from the question session, the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) urged the Government not to delay its plans any further.

TFA national vice-chairman Stephen Wyrill said: “Notwithstanding some opposition, control of TB-infected wildlife has advanced in Wales - but in England we are still waiting for it to get off first base.

“Effective wildlife control will take some time to take effect and the longer we delay, the more difficult finding solutions will be.

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