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PLEASE VOTE: Should GCC call on the Government to halt a pilot badger cull in Gloucestershire?

STROUD NEWS AND JOURNAL
GCC should stand up to the Govermment, says councillor25 January 2012 i By Nick Wakefield 

VOTE HERE

STROUD East county councillor Sarah Lunnon has criticised the ruling Conservative’s refusal to back a motion calling on the Government to halt a pilot badger cull to tackle the spread of bovine TB.

The motion – tabled by Gloucestershire County Council’s Lib Dem group during a full council meeting on Tuesday, January 17 – urged ministers to prioritise investment in an oral vaccine for badgers and support landowners in improving bio security, rather than pursuing a mass shooting scheme.

Areas in west Gloucestershire including the Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury were this week selected to trial a cull, with landowners and farmers invited to apply for a licence through Natural England to test whether a controlled shooting campaign is effective, safe and humane.

TB forced the slaughter of some 25,000 cattle in 2010 and the Government has warned the problem will cost taxpayers more than £1 billion over the coming decade if not dealt with.

 

YOUR VOTE

Should GCC call on the Government to halt a pilot badger cull in Gloucestershire? (at 17:30, 25/01/12)

Yes:  40%

No:   60%

 

The Lib Dem’s motion acknowledges the devastating impact the disease has on the farming community but goes on to brand a industry-led cull as uneconomical, impractical and fraught with safety concerns.

Cllr Lunnon (Green) expressed her ‘dismay’ at the Conservative’s rejection of the motion – arguing that a cull was a ‘knee-jerk’ response to the plight of the county’s farming industry.

"There is no evidence that the culling of badgers eradicates TB in cattle – it reduces it for a small period of time but does not stop it," she said. "Farmers are experiencing a desperate problem out there and people want to be seen to be doing something about it."

GCC leader Mark Hawthorne accused Cllr Lunnon of attempting to score ‘party political points’ on an emotive issue. He said: "This is an issue, with strong views on both sides, which in my opinion is best left to expert discussion at the national level."

The pilot shooting scheme, which is also to be trialled in Somerset, is scheduled to begin by the autumn and has the backing of the National Farmers' Union.

Comments(1)

green4go says...
4:33pm Wed 25 Jan 

Cllr Hawthorne accusing other politicians of making party political points makes me laugh. Go to a County Council meeting and watch as all the Tory Cllrs vote on block for everything. Closing libraries, building incinerators, shooting badgers. How could that possibly happen if they were not voting along party political lines?

 

 

 

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