TB: Hundreds Rally Against Welsh Badger Cull
WALES, UK - Over three hundred animal and wildlife lovers attended a rally outside Cardiff’s Welsh Assembly building this week, against the proposed ‘cull’ of badgers to curb bovine TB in cattle in Wales.
2 July 2008
2 minute read
Supporters from across the country and beyond were out in force in support of national campaigning organisation Viva!, who claim the ‘cull’ will be an animal welfare disaster that will do nothing to solve the problem – fearing it may even make it worse.
The group are calling on Elin Jones (Minister for Welsh Rural Affairs) to act on the available science and cancel the ‘cull’.
Viva! director and Welsh resident Juliet Gellatley, says: “In their eagerness to blame anyone but themselves for the bovine TB epidemic, farmers are targeting wildlife when they should be looking closer to home. The rush to intensify animal agriculture has led to this disastrous situation. Dairy cows suffer the dual burden of pregnancy and lactation during much of their lives. Their immune systems are shot to pieces and they are physically exhausted and killed after just two or three lactations, at four or five years old. Add to this unreliable bTB testing that is inaccurate in one-third of cases and you start to see the real causes of the problem.
“A ‘cull’ of badgers in Wales will decimate wildlife, cost a huge amount of taxpayer’s money and achieve nothing. It is quite incredible that the Welsh Assembly simply ignored the available science in its rush to mollify dairy farming’s Neanderthal tendency.
“We not only call on Ms Jones to reverse the decision but are calling on consumers to reject meat and dairy – the very things that are driving this problem.”
TheCattleSite News Desk
