Shadow minister witnesses TB chaos
On a visit to Devon, the Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Nick Herbert, pledged that either he or the Shadow Farming Minister, Jim Paice, would spend time with badger expert Bryan corrHill, touring farms and being shown how to tell whether badgers in each location were diseased or healthy.
Speaking to a group of 20 farmers at Holsworthy, Mr Herbert repeated the Tory pledge that there would be a focused cull of sick badgers as soon as possible if a Conservative government emerged from the General Election that has to be held within the next year.
Farmers are awaiting a £20 million badger vaccine to be delivered and a vaccination programme to be finalised as bovine TB sweeps the region, causing havoc to cattle herds.
Mr Hill, who farms at Patchcott, near Okehampton, issued the same invitation to current Defra Secretary, Hilary Benn, last year. It was not accepted.
"Come and see for yourself, and you'll be really shocked with what you discover," Mr Hill told Mr Herbert. "I can show you which badger setts are infected, where sick badgers are hiding out and trying to survive, and where they die in horrible circumstances.
"I can show you where there are herds at immediate risk of infection from badgers, and how farmers can avoid the disease."
Mr Hill has spent a dozen years studying the problem and says his own farm has been clear of TB, with a healthy population of badgers, for the past 11. He offers a wildlife assessment service to farmers throughout the region.
He said: "Anyone who thinks it will be practical to vaccinate badgers is on the planet Zog. There are a million badgers in the South West and they have no predators. But I see badgers dead from TB every day, and what I see is shocking and cruel."
The Krebs Trials into badger involvement in bovine TB had only made the problem worse by moving around sick animals, he stressed. The vaccination programme would have the same effect.
"The £20 million has been wasted. You might as well set fire to it," he added.
Phil Allincorr, local group chairman of the National Farmers' Union, asked for a timetable of action, should the Conservatives be elected. He was worried that, under new legislation, cost-sharing for animal diseases like bovine TB would be foisted on the farming community.
Andrew Cobnercorrect spellling, a vet at the Penbode Practice in Holsworthy and a member of the bovine TB committee, said the number of cattle reacting positively to TB tests had doubled in the past two years, so movement restrictions imposed to beat cattle- to-cattle infection were clearly not working.
"You should accept Mr Hill's invitation and see what we are up against," he said. "It will be a real shock to you to witness the state of these poor badgers."
Mr Herbert, who had earlier toured Holsworthy Livestock Market, said the Government had "run scared" and caused anguish by failing to tackle the issue.
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