GUILTY OR NOT?

SCIENCE DOES NOT PROVE BADGERS CAUSE TB

Letter to Western Daily Press...
08:00 - 20 May 2008

John Vincent in his letter (Your Say, May 10) insists farmers need a badger cull to survive. This belief shows how ill-informed he is.

Firstly, he states farmers only want a "limited cull". The 10-year badger trial that reported in 2007 clearly found that small area culls only make matters worse. So what is this limited slaughter Mr Vincent is seeking?

? Fact - the NFU has been promoting areas of 300 sq km - this is not limited, it is huge and would be a massacre.


Should a cull go ahead, what about the landowners who refuse to allow a slaughter on their land?

? Fact - the National Trust, the wildlife trusts, the Woodland Trust and many private landowners are saying no to a slaughter on their land. So the 300 sq km is impossible to achieve.

This makes the NFU's proposal unachievable.

And please do not start on about the rubbish some farmers are promoting, "we will remove only infected badgers and infected setts".

? Fact - it is impossible to tell if a badger is infected with BTb without first killing that badger. Again an unachievable proposal.

Mr Vincent states that he wants to "achieve a saner view of it all". I would agree, but it needs to be a logical, educated view, not rhetoric that simply seeks a scapegoat.

In Eire, badger slaughter in the Four Counties trial has virtually wiped out the badger population (just what the NFU is promoting for England), but BTb in Eire is on the increase. The Irish Minister has acknowledged she does not know the cause. It cannot be badgers - there are none left!

In contrast, Northern Ireland has achieved a 40 per cent reduction in BTb without the killing of badgers. It has involved strict cattle movement controls and rigorous testing. Perhaps animal rights have got it right.

Science and practical experience have both come to the same conclusion, cattle movements, modern huge- scale farming and industrial practices are to blame.

Let's solve the problem logically and stop trying to find a scapegoat.

Malcolm Clark
Wiltshire Badger Group
Devizes