Badgers at risk from TB if necessary steps are not taken

MR Morgan (Yorkshire Post, August 1) would like people to believe that farmers have some kind of blood lust for badgers.

This is simply not true and certainly in Yorkshire, where our cattle and wildlife are TB free, we want to protect them from the terrible disease that is spreading slowly but surely northwards.

Proposals for a cull in areas of the country where TB is rife are not and have never been about eradicating badgers. They are about getting to grips with a disease that affects two key species. For decades farmers have sought to tackle TB by targeting cattle-to-cattle transmission alone – an approach that is clearly not working as the number of cases continues to rise.

Mr Morgan makes reference to the initial conclusions of a trial cull carried out 10 years ago that suggested a cull would be ineffective. The simple fact is that our scientific understanding of this disease increases over time and the latest information shows that five years after the end of the trial the incidence of TB in herds had reduced by more than 30 per cent.

Mr Morgan also makes some very misleading assertions about dairy cow welfare. The use of hormone growth promoters is strictly forbidden across the EU and far from relying heavily on the use of drugs such as antibiotics, all dairy farmers have a bespoke herd health plan focused on preventative health care.

It is a desperate shame that in this country the other species affected by TB is badgers – a charismatic animal that is so well loved.

The fact is, though, that unless some truly difficult decisions are taken, our whole badger population will ultimately be at the mercy of this disease – and that is something we are determined to avoid in our region.

From: RW Perkin, Leeds Road, Bramhope, Leeds.

WHAT emotive claptrap the badger huggers use.

I do not want to see one dead badger, but the facts are that since they became protected their numbers have multiplied. Old badgers carrying TB are still dropping TB in the cattle pastures.

In 2010, 32,000 cattle had to be slaughtered because they had TB. The farmers were compensated up to £1,000 a beast, out of the taxpayers’ pocket (you and I). The farms are then closed so that no animals can be sold to other farmers until they are declared TB free – three clear tests.

Farmers in the 1950s co-operated with the then Ministry of Agriculture to get their herds free of TB so that the British public would enjoy their daily pinta without getting TB. TB hospitals and sanatoriums became extinct.

I think many people who will object to the cull will never have seen a badger, but will be carried along with emotion.