West Dorset farmers add their voice to TB protest

Angry West Dorset farmers joined the NFU protest rally in London last week over the Government refusal to cull badgers in TB hotspots.

West Dorset NFU branch chairman Lloyd Curtis and vice chairman Trevor Cligg attended the protest with Beaminster farmer Peter Hasell and West Dorset NFU secretary Paul Bennett.

Paul Bennett said: "NFU president Peter Kendall roundly denounced the Secretary of State's refusal to act despite admitting that a cull might work'.

"The Secretary of State Hilary Benn had promised to base his decision on the facts. Yet he ignored scientific evidence. His former chief scientific officer Prof David King concluded in his recent report that badgers are a clear source of infection for cattle and emoval of badgers should take place alongside the continued application of controls on cattle.

In Peter Kendall's address at the protest he said: "To admit a cull might work, and then push the already crippling burden of TB controls further onto the farming industry is just plain wrong. It is ridiculous to expect farmers to continue fighting TB with one hand tied behind their back."

Branch chairman Lloyd Curtis said the whole industry would welcome a vaccine for cattle and badgers, but this was still several years off and for many farmers the long term answer of badger vaccines would be too long in coming.