FUW BRANDS QUEEN GUITARIST VISIT AS ‘CYNICAL PUBLICITY STUNT’

The Farmers' Union of Wales today branded Queen guitarist Brian May's decision to attend the judicial review in Swansea of the proposed badger cull in north Pembrokeshire as a "cynical publicity stunt".

FUW vice president Brian Walters, who has seen the rural community in which he has lived all his life ravaged by bTB over the past decade, said: "It is completely galling for those who have to live with the misery and financial losses caused by TB to see a millionaire rock star dropping in to talk about the proposed cull when he has no idea of the desperate need to control this disease.

"When was the last time Brian May had to go cap in hand to a landlord or the bank manager to explain that a TB outbreak meant he couldn't keep up with payments?

"People are having their livelihoods destroyed. The epidemic is ripping families and communities apart, driving people to the very edge and costing the lives of tens of thousands of cattle each year in Wales alone.

"Farmers do not have the luxury of sitting back and collecting recording royalties while pontificating about issues that do not affect them. We have seen tens of thousands of cattle taken away due to TB, yet we have not heard a single word from Brian May regarding this slaughter.

"Yet when the Welsh Government proposes a small-scale badger cull in an area where one in seven badgers is infected with the disease, Brian May announces on his website he is 'losing most of a precious day in the studio' to travel to Swansea to take part in a cynical publicity stunt.

"It shows a completely subjective approach to animal welfare and smacks of a condescending attitude to Welsh government. A vet wouldn't dream of telling him how to play his guitar, so why should he feel he has the right to tell vets how to control a dangerous disease.

"He may be losing a 'precious' day in the studio but does he know how many farmers are losing precious days of work to witness their animals being herded into trailers to be taken to slaughterhouses because of TB?

"Nobody agrees to the needless destruction of wildlife but TB is costing the lives of thousands of cattle as well and of badgers already suffering excruciatingly painful deaths due to the disease."

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