Bovine TB ‘out of control’ in Wales
Bovine TB is “out of control” in Wales and cattle measures alone won’t halt the upward spiral of disease prevalence, deputy president of NFU Cymru Stephen James has warned.
Figures released by DEFRA yesterday revealed the number of cattle slaughtered in Wales, because of the disease, has risen by 15% to 9,307 animals in the last year.
NFU Cymru said this is despite farmers adhering to “draconian” measures such as annual testing and pre-movement testing across the whole of Wales, which impacts heavily on every businesses decision they make.
Mr James said the figures “hammer home” the fact cattle measures alone were ineffective in stopping the disease.
He added: “These figures show a policy that fails to adequately tackle and remove the disease from the wildlife population will never get on top and ultimately eradicate this disease from our countryside; instead the disease continues to escalate.
“This has to act as a wake-up call to the Welsh government and highlights the urgency to implement a science led policy of badger control in endemic areas of the country, rather than the Welsh government’s vaccination policy based on conjecture.”