Pilot culls of badgers to start in summer
TWO pilot badger culls to tackle the spread of bovine TB will go ahead this summer.
Many farmers hope parts of North Devon will follow on if the Government believes the culls are successful.
Environment secretary Owen Paterson confirmed the culls areas in West Gloucestershire and West Somerset when he spoke at the National Farmers Union (NFU) annual conference.
He said a reserve pilot will also be prepared in Dorset in the event that unforeseen circumstances prevent one of the cull areas from being used.
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He told the conference: "Bovine TB is spreading at an alarming rate and causing real devastation to our beef and dairy industry.
"The authorisation letters issued recently are an important step towards the action we need to tackle the spread in wildlife.
"I am determined that there are no further delays this year.
"These pilot culls are just one part of our approach to control.
"We are using everything at our disposal to get to grips with TB including new tougher controls on moving cattle, increased herd testing and working to get effective vaccines ready as soon as possible."
The pilots will test the chosen method of culling through free shooting and be independently assessed to check the method is both effective and humane.
Comments
by Clued-Up
Friday, March 08 2013, 12:04PM
“"Many farmers hope parts of North Devon will follow on if the Government believes the culls are successful ..."
I think farmers have already worked out for themselves that the badger cull is most likely to be stopped before it's started. Landowners aren't going to be willing to pay the full costs of policing the badger slaughter programme as DEFRA now requires them to do (see the "Times" reports), it would bankrupt them. The licence conditions require shooters should have access to 70% land in the cull area before the cull can start - enough landowners are pulling out of the scheme to make a breach in licensing conditions probable.
Farmers should now be pressing government to go ahead as fast as possible with introducing the cattle bTB vaccine. The new and more tightly enforced cattle movement controls are already reducing cattle bTB disease but the better answer is thorugh cattle vaccination.”