UK cattle farmers are experiencing a “growing sense of desperation” regarding the incidence of TB in their herds, according a report from an all-party Agriculture Committee of MPs today (10 January). The report warns that pressure is growing as debates and delays continue over what exactly is causing the spread of the disease and how it is to be controlled.
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The 300,000 strong British badger population is largely blamed for the spread of TB, however the government’s suggestion of badger culls trials in a bid to establish a link between the species has proved controversial.
First recommended in 1997 by the Krebs report on bovine TB, animal activists have fought the proposals of three different badger control methods; surveys, pro-active culling and reactive culling when bovine TB is found in herds. They believe that culling methods are in no way based on firm scientific evidence.
Agriculture minister Baroness Hayman has also added her voice to the uncertainty. While speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she commented that even if a link was proved, a cull may not be enough to halt the spread of TB: “It’s not a simple situation. The way in which badgers live and move as social animals can show that culling them actually spreads the disease rather than limits it.”
The debates have meant a delay in the five-year timetable first laid down in the Krebs report, in which ten “hot spot” regions were identified for a trial cull of 12,500 badgers. While the Independent Scientific Group carrying out the trials say the results will become available in 2004, the Agriculture Committee describes the delay as “regrettable” and asks why no trial area exists in Wales, despite the relatively high incidence of TB in cattle in this area.
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By GlobalData“There are lessons to be learnt from the slow implementation of the trial but nothing to be gained, from abandoning it before it has had time to achieve robust results,” adds the report.
Further concerns over the time delays surround the “illegal activity” of culls outside trial areas, a direct result of farmers’ desperation. This point is linked to the activists claims that badgers are being killed during the mating season (1 February to 30 April) and that badger cubs are not being protected.
Today’s report argues that while the debates continue, the nations farmers are struggling against the disease, for which no vaccine yet exists. It urges the unhindered go-ahead with the trial cull, as “the only feasible way of obtaining information essential to establishing the relationship between bovine TB in cattle and badgers and whether culling is a viable policy option.”
