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LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE TELEGRAPH

From The Badger Trust
11 July 2011 

SIR.

Christina Odone's article (Farmers more important than badgers, July 11) reveals a dreadful depth of ignorance about bovine TB, badgers, wildlife protection groups and cattle. It is accurate only in reflecting the views of the more unthinking and obstinate proponents of badger culling. According to Defra figures for the UK, Bovine TB has been declining for the last two years following the imposition of much-delayed movement controls and pre-movement testing, although there has been evidence of fraud in evading the regulations.

 The farming industry obstinately opposed the testing of cattle - admittedly disruptive and costly - before they were sold on to replace those slaughtered because of BSE and foot and mouth disease. Testing had had to be abandoned during the FMD epidemic, and that was when the final surge in TB took place. The increase was not so much government dithering, as claimed by Cristina Odone, but agricultural tight-fistedness.

The implication of the immoderate invective in the article is that killing badgers would produce a substantial benefit but at best it would be only slight if at all and take nine years to achieve. Even then the culling would have to be carried out to extremely rigorous and expensive standards by farmers or their agents. The conclusions of Sir David King reported in the article rely on this grossly improbable operation being a complete success. 

The kind of ill-informed political sparring against anyone who disagrees with the farmers' representatives is much of the reason why the industry lost control of bovine TB - and, incidentally, infected the local badgers. The disease was almost conquered in the 1960s without killing badgers, remaining at about 1,000 cattle a year for 20 years despite a bout of badger killing for eleven years in the middle of the period. The disastrous decision to abandon annual cattle testing in the mid 1980s followed by unrestricted movement of untested cattle started the rot.

David Williams,
Chairman
Badger Trust

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