Farmers threaten legal action over badger culling

Farmers tonight threatened legal action if the Government decides not to allow a cull of badgers to tackle tuberculosis in cattle.

National Farmers' Union president Peter Kendall said reports that Environment Secretary Hilary Benn was not going to authorise a cull would be "nothing short of a disaster" if true.

Mr Kendall said a failure to cull badgers, which can infect cattle with TB, would have a devastating impact on farmers and rural communities in areas which have been ravaged by the disease.

And industry commentator and farmer Ian Potter, from Ashbourne in Derbyshire, warned of demonstrations and the possibility of farmers taking the law into their own hands to deal with badgers.

But the news a cull of the protected species would not be given the go-ahead was welcomed by conservation groups, who said the reported decision was based on sound science.

With spiralling rates of infection and 28,000 cattle slaughtered last year, the Government has been under pressure to give the go-ahead for a cull in badgers, which act as a "wildlife reservoir" transmitting the disease.

Speaking at the Royal Show in Warwickshire today, Mr Benn refused to disclose what his announcement, expected on Monday, would be.

But he acknowledged the scale of the problem and the strength of feeling and "depth of despair" felt by those most affected.

"Bovine TB is and remains a big problem and in the end we can only deal with it by working together.

"I want to find an effective way of dealing with it. I take this responsibility very seriously," he said.

But the Conservatives accused the Government of failing to bring the disease, which has cost the taxpayer some £500 million in the last decade, under control.

Shadow agricultural minister Jim Paice said: "After years of dithering, tens of thousands of animals lost and countless farm businesses driven to the wall, there is still no prospect of the Government bringing this terrible disease under control.

"We want to see healthy cattle alongside healthy badgers but there is nothing to suggest that 'business as usual' will deliver this outcome."

Mr Kendall said: "Last year saw 28,000 cattle culled with TB, and already in the first quarter of 2008 another 13,500 cattle have been lost.

"This sort of needless waste of productive animals is unacceptable and calls into question the Government's attitude to food security but also to animal welfare.

"A negative decision on badger culling would condemn not only tens of thousands more cattle to death, but also thousands of badgers in areas currently free of TB.

"It would be nothing short of a disaster."

Mr Kendall said the NFU would seek immediate legal advice to challenge any decision that went against them, while discussions with the Government on the sharing of costs for animal diseases would become "untenable".

Mr Potter, a livestock farmer who has lost 150 cattle to TB over the last eight years, said that as far as farmers were concerned the only effective way to deal with TB was for there to be some sort of cull.

But conservation groups such as the Badger Trust, the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB welcomed suggestions there would be no slaughter, and insisted such a decision was backed up by the science.

A 10 year study by the Independent Scientific Group on Bovine TB (ISG) concluded last year that a cull of badgers could not "meaningfully contribute" to controlling the disease.

But a review of the research by former Government chief scientific adviser Sir David King said a cull could make a significant contribution to the control of bovine TB in areas where there was a "high and persistent" incidence of the disease.

Earlier this year a committee of MPs recommended a cull should be given the go-ahead in TB hotspots, which include south west England, south west Wales, Staffordshire and Derbyshire.

But Trevor Lawson, from the Badger Trust, said: "A decision against a badger cull would be the right decision, based on sound science, which will allow farmers to move forwards in tackling this disease.

"There is no scientific, economic or practical case for culling badgers to control bovine TB."

Mr Lawson said attention must be focused on cattle, "the main agents of the disease", with more frequent and better testing to identify TB and swifter action to remove infected animals from farms.

The RSPCA called on the Government, farmers and animal welfare groups to work together to build a long-term strategy to tackle bovine TB, with resources dedicated to developing a vaccine for the disease.

The animal welfare charity believed a vaccine for badgers could be available within two years, but more work was needed to produce immunisations for cattle.

The RSPCA also said there should be better funding for biosecurity measures and assistance to ensure a disease-prevention plan was in place for every farm.

Dr Rob Atkinson, RSPCA head of wildlife science, said: "Repeated culling was never going to be a genuine solution, and relentless killing is certainly not a long-term answer to the problem of bovine TB.

"The RSPCA cares as much about cattle welfare as badgers, so we are keen to work with farmers and the government to find positive solutions to the challenge of TB in cattle."