A joint report by the
Badger Trust and
Badgerwatch Ireland has
condemned the Republic of Ireland’s culling policy saying the “6000
snares set every night” are failing to halt the spread of bovine
tuberculosis.
Published on Monday (14 May) the report urges consumers to
boycott Irish dairy and beef products and to shun Ireland as a
holiday destination. In so doing it hopes to pressure the Irish
government in to revising its strategy on tackling TB.
The report says that despite employing a comprehensive cull
against wildlife 0.4% of the Republic of Irelands cattle population
was slaughtered in 2006 due to TB, compared to 0.2% in Great
Britain where culling is prohibited.
As a result of the culling the report says badgers are locally
extinct in many areas, although there is no hard data to support
this claim.
The authors also criticise the Irish government for ignoring
advice to resume pre-movement testing which it abandoned in 1996.
“Pre-movement TB testing for cattle has been recommended by both
Veterinary Ireland and the EU, but the advice has been ignored by
Irish agriculture ministers.”
Trevor Lawson, report author and Badger Trust public affairs
adviser, commented: “The official persecution of badgers in the
Republic of Ireland is an international disgrace and must surely
breach the Berne Convention, which protects badgers in
Europe.
“The grotesque extent of this extermination proves that killing
badgers does not control or eradicate bovine TB in cattle. Badgers
are a scapegoat for bad farming practices and an inadequate bovine
TB testing regime. Our findings make a mockery of the demands for
badger culling made in Britain by the National Farmers Union and
other organisations.”
Bernie Barratt, from Badgerwatch Ireland, commented: “I am
currently looking after two badger cubs whose mother has almost
certainly been snared or shot. Many other cubs have starved to
death because the government insists on killing badgers when
mothers have cubs below ground. The extermination of badgers in
Ireland is now so extensive, that I have no idea whether it will
ever be safe to release these cubs into the wild.
“I am very proud of Ireland's many achievements, but this
senseless slaughter is a horrible stain on my country's character.
We have no choice but to bring this to the attention of
international consumers, since our politicians lack the moral
courage to protect our native wildlife.”
NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond said: “This is a highly
misleading report which twists some facts and ignores many
others.
“TB has always been a much bigger problem in Ireland than it is
in the UK. But the partnership approach adopted by the Irish
Government in working with the farming community has achieved a
very significant reduction in the incidence of TB, and in the long
run that will be good news for badgers as well as for cattle and
farmers.
“In Great Britain, by contrast, the number of new TB outbreaks
increased by 11 per cent in the first two months of this year
compared with the same period in 2006. We ought to be learning from
the Irish experience, not misrepresenting it.
“Across the EU, 25 out of 27 EU member states (UK and Eire being
the exceptions) have virtually eradicated bTB by using the same
cattle control measures as us and despite having similar farming
practices. It is only when cattle have to live alongside bTB
infected wildlife (in the UK and Eire this is the badger) that the
disease persists.
“This is only the latest example of the Badger Trust’s state of
denial over the role that badgers play in transmitting TB to cattle
and other wildlife, and it is doing their credibility no good at
all.
“They would be serving the cause of the badger much more
effectively if they faced up to the facts of the matter and worked
with the Government, the veterinary profession and farmers towards
achieving a healthy badger population rather than pretending that
the problem doesn’t exist and perpetuating a situation in which
thousands of sick and diseased badgers are dying slow and painful
deaths each year.”