Letter: Badger situation in region out of control

In 1975 Peter Walker was the Minister of Agriculture and he started to control badgers by gassing.

By 1980 there were about 100 cases of bovine TB in the whole of England and Wales. If this policy had been carried on for another three years the TB would have been brought under control.

Today there are more than 300 cases in Shropshire alone.

Ten years ago if you drove from the Welsh border to Cross Gates you would have seen fields full of cows, calves and sheep. A few weeks ago I drove the same route there were no cows or calves, only sheep.

If you compare the figures for TB animals in Wales the figures will have gone down simply because the cows are no longer there.

At this time of year the older badgers are driving out the younger ones. Fresh digging can be seen where the young have moved to make a fresh start, so the population has exploded which is a disaster waiting to happen. A reduction of badgers would give ground nesting birds such as the curlew, partridge and peewit a chance to survive as well as hedgehogs and bumble bees.

The Government is said to be controlling this very hard to control and cure disease of bTB. At present I say it is out of control.

Harvey Beamond, Lydbury North

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