Herbert: Conservatives will act to halt Bovine TB spread
19 May 2009
Shadow Environment Secretary Nick Herbert has renewed the Conservatives’ commitment to tackling bovine TB following meetings with local farmers in Devon. Almost twice as many cattle were slaughtered in the county last year than in the whole of the UK in 1997 and there are signs that the disease is spreading to other species.
Mr Herbert restated the Conservative commitment to pursue a targeted cull of infected badgers as part of a broad strategy to tackle the infection which led to the slaughter of almost 40,000 cattle in England and Wales last year.
Mr Herbert said:
“The Conservatives understand the desperate need to take action now and that is why we support the views of many farmers that a targeted cull of badgers must be a part of the action necessary to tackle Bovine TB. This is an animal welfare issue. Everybody loses from the Government running away from this problem – cattle are being slaughtered, badgers are suffering, farmers’ livelihoods are being damaged, and taxpayers are footing the bill.
“We cannot go on slaughtering tens of thousands of cattle while ignoring the reservoir of infection in wildlife. Sick badgers are responsible for a significant number of herd breakdowns and unless there is a policy to remove them we stand little chance of eradicating this terrible disease.
“The Government's approach of waiting for a vaccine which is years away from practical application while thousands of cattle and increasing numbers of other animals become infected is simply irresponsible. The Conservatives want to see healthy cattle living alongside healthy wildlife but at the moment in many parts of the country we have neither.”