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PRESS RELEASE: Welsh badgers face renewed peril

THE BADGER TRUST
10 March 2011 

The Badger Trust is deeply disappointed that the Welsh Assembly Government has resurrected its misconceived and counterproductive proposals to authorise the destruction of badgers in an area of Wales. This is despite significant reductions in bovine tuberculosis over the last two years. Elin Jones, the Rural Affairs Minister, sought to justify a badger cull as somehow necessary to complement the range of measures already in place. The Trust will be studying the evidence presented to the Minister in detail and will seek legal advice in relation to the latest decision, which may also be subject to a challenge in the Welsh Assembly.

In a statement to Farmer’s Weekly Interactive, the Minister does concede that there have been improvements in TB figures in the area. This reduction has taken place over two years without any badgers having been destroyed. The Minister seeks to underplay the significance of these results by claiming that there has been a cyclical pattern in the past. However, the Trust emphasises that this pattern was  before the current stringent and effective cattle controls were introduced and took effect. (These measures had been recommended by scientists as the only solution for some time). These measures included improved surveillance and cattle disease controls, linking compensation to good practice, enforcing the testing regime, and establishing a regional approach to the disease. The Badger Trust has recommended these measures for some time and believes that they should be given sufficient time to continue to make their impact, before such draconian action as a badger cull is contemplated.

Jack Reedy
THE BADGER TRUST 

 

 

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