Wales to press ahead with badger cull
A badger cull in Wales to curb tuberculosis in cattle could finally be launched, according to this article in The Guardian.
The controversial cull was delayed last year after wildlife campaigners won a legal battle over previous plans, but rural affairs minister Elin Jones has always intended to press ahead – mainly in north Pembrokeshire – despite recognising what she called the “genuine concern” of opponents.
About 1,400 of the estimated 35,000 badgers in Wales are likely to be trapped and shot by contractors, the government has said previously, while insisting population levels would recover. TB-infected badgers are seen as prime conduits for TB in cattle, prompting Queen guitarist Brian May to attack “an apparently insatiable lust to take revenge” on the animals” .
All of this reminds us that rural England (and Wales for that matter) is as much a place for tough choices as a rural idyll. I was in West Wales today talking through the development of Pembrokeshire Produce Direct – a really innovative supply chain initiative – and I was actually talking to a local producer about the impact of West Wales as a cattle TB hotspot on the viability of his business, so it was interesting to get home and read this.
What are your views on the pros and cons of the intended cull? And while you are thinking about this, it is worth speculating on how many badgers are killed by traffic each year?