I have been asked by a number of people to
state my views on the badger cull.
My position is essentially quite straight
forward in that I support our local farmers. During the election campaign I
visited several of our local beef and dairy farms. The message from all of them
was clear. TB in cattle is caused by badgers and the population of infected
badgers needs to be controlled in order to eradicate this terrible disease.
I have also consulted with many local vets,
scientists and DEFRA officials who all give me the same clear message.
TB in cattle is costing our local farming
community hundreds of thousands of pounds a year. It is also a cause of
significant stress and anxiety for farmers waiting for the regular tests and
watching animals they have raised be destroyed.
In addition to this, as well as mature
cattle, hundreds of new born calves are destroyed every week in Cornwall as it
is not worth the risk of farmers raising them for beef due to the likelihood of
the animals contracting TB.
Let me be clear, I do not want to see our
badger population needlessly destroyed. But this is a choice between destroying
a proportion of the badger population or continuing to see thousands of cattle
needlessly destroyed every year with the knock on economic cost to our local
agricultural community and economy.
Culling badgers by itself will not rid us
of TB in cattle. But in my view it does need to be a part of a comprehensive programme
for eradicating this disease. There are a number of examples around the World
where TB in cattle has been controlled and in every case controlling the
population of wildlife that carry the disease has been a significant part of
the programme. In fact evidence from Australia and New Zealand shows that TB in
cattle simply cannot be controlled without controlling the disease in wildlife
which act as a reservoir for the disease. Vaccination will also have a part to
play but as it does not cure already infected badgers will not solve this issue
on its own. We also need to continue to control movements of cattle to isolate
herds that have been infected.
Therefore I support our local farming
community on this issue and support the culling of badgers as a part of an
overall programme. The government has
stated its aim is to rid this country of this disease in the next 25 years.
