Letter: Protection law was not only bad for cattle but also for the badger
I cannot sit back any longer and read so many supporting the anti-badger cull brigade!
The last straw was a letter from Jim Ashley on June 22, who is chairman of the Shropshire Badgers Group and from his comments I can only assume that he and his supporters have never kept cattle!
I hope they will read this letter, which will convince them that at the moment a badger cull is the only answer.
I moved to Shropshire in 1931 and ever since my family has farmed suckler cows and we did not have one cow or calve with TB, until the law regarding the protection of the badgers was introduced.
This law was fatal for the badger! Yes, I mean for the badgers, because they are now protected and as they have no natural predators, their have multiplied in numbers beyond belief. Previously we had badgers which lived in the woods around the farms, but were not allowed to become domicile on the farms.
However, since the law changed the badgers have moved from the woods to the farmland looking food and space for their ever expanding families. This has led to, not only a contamination of the land where cattle graze, but has also brought the disease of TB into the badger's families as this is nature's way of providing a natural cull. This gives the badgers a lingering and horrible death.
I hope the so called 'do gooders' who fought to change the law to protect the badgers, realise the problems, harm and disease they have brought for the badgers.
Since this law was introduced the ministry vets have to do regular tests on the cattle for TB. On our farm, in the most recent test five of the new calved cows, were found to have TB and were given a death sentence. At the same time it is costing the country millions in salaries for the ministry vets and compensation for the farmers which does not even cover their loss.
I hope the cull will take place in all the farms in this county and the countryside will return to how it was, with badgers living healthily in the woods and our cows and calves allowed to graze in the meadows without fear of a death sentence.
Gilbert Jones, Craven Arms
