Western Morning News (Saturday)
No other option but to extend badger cull
Badger culling has been extended to seven new zones this week. In an open letter Bridgwater and West Somerset MP tells Defra Secretary and Redruth & Cornwall MP George Eustice that in the absence of any effective alternative the programme absolutely must
DIan Liddell-Grainger
EAR George
Those of us in the South West will know exactly how our farming colleagues in the seven new areas selected for badger culling will be feeling this week.
They will be experiencing, I should imagine, precisely the levels of relief and euphoria that we enjoyed here when someone finally decided to grasp the nettle and do something positive about TB.
At the same time I cannot help expressing regret yet again that successive administrations stood by and watched as a once-manageable situation was allowed to race out of control like a wildfire.
The country – or rather taxpayers – have paid a heavy price for that inaction in terms of the millions paid out in slaughter compensation, not to mention the millions more – £4 million last year alone – it has cost to police the culling operations, keep the deluded pro-badger lobby at bay, and allow the marksmen to get on with the job.
I do not rejoice in the death of a single badger and I am at one with those many farmers – and indeed Natural England – in taking the view that we do not wish to see every last one eradicated. But we have to get the population back in balance if we are going to have any hope of getting a handle on a TB problem which, sadly, has now become a permanent feature of farming in this country.
Whatever the opponents may argue, culling has brought a significant reduction in the incidence of the disease in those areas where it has been carried out – and that in itself rebuts the claims that TB is being spread merely as a result of poor biosecurity on the part of the farming community.
I also subscribe to the view that we must continue to strive to develop and implement a robust vaccination programme, while wondering how on earth we are going to ensure the protection of every single member of a near-half million strong badger population. The vaccination route is fraught with difficulties which is why we cannot take our foot off the culling pedal until we have a tried and tested vaccination protocol in place.
As to the current proposals to start tapering the culling programme – which appear to be driven purely by sentiment rather than by science – they are to my way of thinking absolutely ridiculous. Because if we do that before alternative methods are available to us we shall be leaving the problem only half-solved and infection rates will inevitably start climbing again.
I do not believe we have had the last word on this issue. And I hope that if the culling turns out to be as effective in the newly designated areas as it has been in this region then we shall be able to press for it to continue as the only effective tool in the box while we wait for science to deliver us a less brutal but equally effective method of control.
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The vaccination route is fraught with difficulties which is why we cannot take our foot off the culling pedal