Farmers want "licence to kill" badgers
THURSDAY JANUARY 11 2001
BY VALERIE ELLIOTT
AN EMERGENCY plan to let farmers shoot badgers
in areas with a high incidence of tuberculosis in cattle is being
studied by Nick Brown, the Agriculture Minister.
The proposal is to be discussed with Jim Scudamore, the Chief
Veterinary Officer, and other scientific advisers, including
Professor John Bourne, who is supervising the Ministry of
Agriculture’s £800 million trial badger cull to establish if there
is a link between the animals and bovine TB.
With incidents of TB rising at 20 per cent a year and outbreaks
in areas that have not seen clusters of cases for more than 20
years, ministers accept that they must look hard at an alternative
strategy despite the furore from wildlife groups.
Three years ago there were 3,000 cases of bovine TB across the UK
but figures for last year are expected to show a rise to 9,000.
The National Farmers’ Union forecast that by 2004 - when badger
cull trials will end - more than 20,000 cattle will have been
slaughtered because of TB.
Mr Brown and Baronness Hayman, the junior Agriculture Minister,
heard at first hand the plight of farmers with TB in their herds at
a meeting with the NFU on Monday.
The NFU would like to see a cull under the Ministry’s control, if
necessary with third parties shooting the badgers. A Ministry of
Agriculture spokeswoman confirmed that the NFU proposal was being
given “serious consideration”.
Brian Jennings, chairman of the NFU’s animal welfare committee,
said last night: “We are not asking for an open licence to kill but
a tightly controlled programme to deal with this disease.” Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Ltd.
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