Badger cull could be considered
01 March 2005 - BBC News
The government may consider a cull of badgers if scientific tests prove it
could limit the spread of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in cattle. But the National
Farmers' Union (NFU) says the timetable is too vague and something needs to be
done immediately. It is worried that farmers are being asked to bear more of the
rising costs of policing the disease. More than 1,000 farms in Devon and
Cornwall had TB in cattle in the first six months of 2004. This resulted in the
slaughter of about 3,500 cattle which, according to figures published by the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in August, was more
than anywhere else in England, Scotland or Wales. The ground rules
announcement by Defra on Tuesday follows a call by more than 300 vets for a
"strategic cull" of badgers and aim to improve control of the disease over the
next 10 years. But the NFU has accused the government of fiddling while bovine
TB runs rampant throughout the region. It says no specific commitment was made
in Defra's Strategic Framework. Anthony Gibson, the NFU's South West regional
director, said: "We understand the need for farmers to play their part in
controlling this wretched disease, but the problem must be dealt with in its
entirety. Cracking down on cattle movements and slaughtering cattle whilst
taking no action whatsoever to deal with the huge reservoir of infection amongst
badgers which are totally free to wander is like trying to bail out a boat
without fixing the hole that's letting the water in." Mr Gibson says with the
number of farms in Devon and Cornwall under "crippling" TB restrictions and
delays in the testing regime, many farmers' tolerance is at breaking point.
Nationally it has cost more than £80m to tackle the effects of TB in the past
year. Oliver Edwards, a cattle farmer from Exmoor, says most farmers are already
acting very responsibly to control bovine TB. He said: "I have a closed herd, so
no cattle come on to my farm unless they are TB tested, and we have now gone
down with a TB outbreak." Mr Edwards believes the issue needs to be tackled by
the government immediately or the problem is going to increase. "As long as the
issue is addressed asap then we'll be able to get clean badgers, clean cattle
and go on," he added. For more information, please click the following link:
Badger Encounters in the Wild book |
|
Superb
book of Jim Crumley's encounters with badgers in the wild in Scotland. The quality of the writing is superb.
A great read. Click here to buy:
Encounters in the wild
|
External News |
We have provided links to stories from external news
organisations so you can follow the media interest in badgers, and see who
writes on the subject. We do not endorse external authors. |
|
|