The Farmers’ Union of Wales today welcomed the laying of the Tuberculosis Eradication (Wales) Order 2009 before the Welsh Assembly, describing it as a crucial step towards bTB eradication.
The Order, which will allow the Welsh Assembly Government to cull and vaccinate badgers for the purpose of disease control, was laid before the Assembly by rural affairs minister Elin Jones.
Following the announcement, FUW bTB spokesman Brian Walters, an organic farmer from Carmarthenshire who has lost numerous cattle to the disease said: “This is a long anticipated and much welcome step towards controlling a major disease vector.
“We know that bTB infected badgers are one of the greatest barriers to bTB eradication. We have seen cattle controls stepped up significantly over the past decade, yet incidences of bTB continue to rise at an alarming rate.
“Research has shown that bTB rates in Welsh badgers are around 17 times higher than they are in cattle. We simply cannot go on killing more and more cattle when all the evidence points to badgers being the most significant source of disease in our worst hit areas.”
The Order will also make it on offence to interfere with efforts designed to combat the disease, which Mr Walters described as a key component of the Order.
“If a cattle keeper obstructs the testing or removal of cattle for bTB control purposes, they are dealt with severely - and quite rightly so.
“The same must apply to others who interfere with the control of this deadly disease.
The disruption of the English trials, coupled with obstruction, must certainly have undermined the impact of those trials, and it is imperative that this does not happen in Wales.
“The English trials have shown that reducing badger numbers by 80% or so led to a fall in bTB incidences of 54%, and even outside the culling areas incidences have fallen by almost a quarter,” added Mr Walters.