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NFU outlines TB consultation response

NFU's biased views:

FARMERS WEEKLY
Friday 10 December 2010

The NFU has published details of its response to DEFRA’s consultation on TB and badger control.

The consultation closed on Wednesday (8 Dec).

The union said its backing for badger control measures was based on three months of intensive consultation with members which had involved more than 100 meetings.

“Members have been hugely positive and generally accept the proposals outlined in the consultation,” it said.

“It is clear that we can be confident that the industry would be willing to participate in a professional badger-control operation.

“The union said one of the key points made in its response was that if licences were granted to cull badgers it should be to groups of farmers and landowners rather than to individuals.

“This would deliver a number of benefits including, a common point of contact between government (Natural England) and the area’s participants, potential options to enforce compliance with the licence conditions and the ability for the group to purchase common goods and services.

”It said the shooting of free-ranging badgers combined with cage trapping and shooting would be the most efficient, humane and cost-effective methods of control.

It also believed that culling using hard boundaries and buffer zones would make it possible to improve upon results found in the Krebs trial.

“While the NFU fully supports the development of vaccines to assist the control of bTB, we currently believe that there is insufficient evidence to support the widespread use of vaccination in wild badger populations with a high level of infection,” the response stated.

“The use of vaccination is not at present cost-effective and it is widely agreed that it will not reduce the incidence of bTB as fast as can be expected with culling. Also in addition there is no evidence that vaccinating badgers will have a positive effect upon cattle disease incidence.”

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