Fight for badgers
I am dismayed to see the Tory-led government is ploughing ahead with plans to begin a cull by issuing licenses to shoot badgers.
Cattle TB is a blight on livestock and farmers that must be tackled but this is a plan which will not work. An iconic British animal will be slaughtered for no good purpose.
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Hide AdA ten-year scientific study on TB and badgers concluded a cull ‘would not only fail to achieve a beneficial effect, but would entail a substantial risk of increasing the incidence of cattle TB and spreading the disease’.
In short, it could make things worse!
It was for that reason that Labour ruled out a cull when in office.
A cull didn’t make sense then and it doesn’t make sense now.
The government should abandon this barmy idea and concentrate efforts on a comprehensive vaccination plan.
Peter Skinner MEP
Member of the European Parliament for the South East