West Wales Badger Group

This is a cutting from the Western Morning News Farming today supplement Wednesday, 21 June 1995.

It clearly shows that badgers are not to blame for spreading bTB amongst herds of cattle and that there is a completely different reason for the occurances happening.

It also shows the stubborn head in the sand attitude of the authorities MAFF, in this case but inherited by it's predecessor DEFRA.

Below the cutting is the complete transcript for ease of reading.

Transcript from Western Farming News, Farming today. Wednesday, 21 June 1995

TB herd mystery

Outbreak may shatter ideas about disease.

A massive turberculosis outbreak in a closed Guernsey herd in Cornwall has prompted the Government to drastically change the way it tackles the disease. It challenges existing theories on how the disease is spred and raises fears of a new virulent strain.
Most significantly it casts doubt on the guilt of the badgers who have consistently regarded by MAFF and farmers as the villains of the piece.

Leonard Negus, of Lower Lanherne Farm, St Mawgan, was forced to slaughter half his Guernsey milking herd after 51 showed signs of TB in a Ministry test in May. Seven showed signs of the highly-infectious open lesions when slaughtered, despite Ministry arguments that its programme catches cattle before they reach this stage.
All tested clean six months previously, which raises the question: Where did the TB come from? Mr Negus has not bought new stock since 1975, he has no common boundaries with other herds and all badgers tested in the vicinity were free from the disease.

Angry farmers, politicians and badger groups have pointed to the incident and rising TB figures in the South West as proving that MAFF's current policy, which focuses on killing infected badgers, is not working.

North Cornwall MP Paul Tyler this week called for an Agricultural Select Committee inquiry into the Government's failure to check the spread of TB. He said: "This case challenges all assumptions on which MAFF vets have been working. Most significant of all, the testing of large of badgers produced not one single infected animal.
If we are to avoid an epidemic, an entirely new approach with new sense of urgency and appropriate resources is essential."

A stunned Mr Negus said the breakdown had destroyed much of his and his wife's life's work. A recurrent TB problem which began two years ago had led to the slaughteer of an occasional animal at each successive test until the herd was finally given the all clear in October. But in May, 51 gave positive reactors, the test sites rising into "the largest swellings I've seen in 50 years of farming."
"It's a bit of a shaker," he said. "We reared those animals from birth. We can rebuild, but we will never rebuild to the point we were at."
He stressed he could not "praise the Ministry enough" for their help, but his huge loss gave him grave doubts about the eradication policy.
"They thought they got rid of TB, but it is growing and growing. I'm not quite sold on this idea that it is the badgers. It is difficult to know who gives it to whome. What comes to mind is this a new virulent strain?"

Postbridge badger expert Ruth Murrey, who has protested the animals innocence for more than 20 years, said a complete study of Mr Negus' case could identify the source of the disease once and for all, adding "This really is an opportunity to get to the bottom of it which should not be missed."

MAFF said new herd breakdowns rose by 18% in the South West last year. "Almost all are considered by the Department's veterinary staff, after detailed enquiry into each case, to be caused by infection from badgers," it said.