NFU welcomes decision to cull badgers in Wales

Apr 10 2008 by Sam Wood, The Journal

THE NFU has welcomed the announcement by the Welsh Assembly of a programme to cull badgers in a bid to eradicate bovine TB.

The plan includes a one-off TB test of all cattle herds in Wales to establish the extent of the problem, faster removal of reactor cattle after a TB breakdown, a review of the TB compensation system and an intensive targeted pilot cull of badgers in a TB hotspot area.

Legislation will also be introduced to extend TB testing and other controls to camelids.

NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond said: “The Welsh Assembly government is to be congratulated on having the courage to tackle every aspect of the spread of bovine TB. This gives a clear signal to Defra as to the way forward for England and we would urge the closest possible co-operation between the veterinary authorities in England and Wales.

“The NFU and other industry stakeholders in England have already presented a suggested mechanism for a managed badger cull in TB hotspot areas and we would urge this to be developed alongside the Welsh pilot and implemented without delay in England.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “The Government is considering available evidence before coming to a decision on badger culling.”

Officials say bovine TB is out of control in Wales, but conservation groups insist a badger cull will not stop it spreading. In a statement to assembly members in Cardiff Bay, Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones said: “This is a difficult decision to take and it has not been taken lightly. I am very aware of the strong views on this issue.”

She made clear that badgers would remain a protected species and said she had given “due consideration to the divergence of scientific and political opinion”.

“Illegal action will not be tolerated,” she said.

Ms Jones also said there would be a one-off test of all cattle herds in Wales to assess the extent of infection. This would mean testing about 400,000 extra cattle in a year.

The minister added that she wanted to reform the compensation system for farmers whose infected cows were slaughtered to encourage herd owners to comply with legal and best practice requirements.

Last year, 7,905 cattle were put down in Wales, up from 669 in 1997. A compensation bill for affected farms of £15.2m in 2007 would grow to more than £30m by 2012 if it continued at the present “unsustainable” rate, she added.

The UK Government’s Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB reported last June that killing wildlife was not an effective way to control the disease in cattle. Culling caused badgers to move more freely and more widely, increasing the spread of the disease, it found. In a report last month the Badger Trust said culling had not improved the incidence of bovine TB in the Republic of Ireland.