Brown calls for badger cull debate

7 February 2001



Brown calls for badger cull debate

By Alistair Driver and Johann Tasker

AGRICULTURE minister Nick Brown has called for a parliamentary debate to discuss the possibility of killing more badgers to combat tuberculosis in cattle.

Mr Brown accepted that the government had been too slow to stamp out TB in badgers, which had led to an escalation of the disease in cattle.

Referring to the governments Krebs-Bourne badger culling trial, Mr Brown said: “I am calling for a debate in Parliament to discuss the way forward.

“Ideas we might consider include action outside the Krebs-Bourne trial.”

The link between TB in badgers and cattle was compelling, Mr Brown added. But he warned that political opposition could make progress difficult.

However, action was needed before the results of the culling trials expected in five years time, especially in light of the Phillips report into the BSE crisis.

Mr Brown said: “We cannot let TB steadily increase in the national herd. I am determined to press ahead with the Krebs-Bourne trials.

“But I am also conscious of what the Phillips Report has to say about decision-making in areas of uncertainty.

“It is important to explain that this is an animal welfare issue for cattle and a human welfare issue for the families whose herds have become affected.”

The comments, made to the National Farmers Union annual conference in London on Wednesday (7 February), drew a passionate response from farmers.

NFU president Ben Gill said there was a desperate need for urgent action on bovine TB, which is currently rising by 23% a year.

“The need for interim measures [to combat TB] such as action outside the trial areas in the new hotspot areas is undeniable.”

But Dr Elaine King, conservation officer for the National Federation of Badger Groups, condemned Mr Brown for considering killing more badgers.

“Britains small and family farmers need practical help thats good for wildlife, good for cattle welfare and – most importantly – acceptable to the public.

“The mass extermination of badgers will only deepen the publics growing distaste for intensive agribusiness and its products.”