Row Over Cause Of TB Outbreak – Were Infected Badgers To Blame?
UK - DEFRA TB advisor and Staffordshire dairy farmer Bill Madders rubbished claims this week that cattle movements were to blame for a recent TB outbreak on his farm.
27 April 2007
1 minute read
The Badger Trust had claimed his outbreak was triggered by the movement of untested, TB-infected cattle to South Staffordshire.
Mr Madders told Farmers Guardian in February that the local State Veterinary Service were ‘99 to 100 per cent’ certain that a neighbouring badger population was the source of the infection, which saw him lose 28 of his 200-strong herd.
The Badger Trust claimed this week it was the decision to allow the restocking of untested livestock after the foot-and-mouth outbreak that had brought TB-infected cattle into South Staffordshire.
“The unavoidable fact is that Mr Madders’ TB outbreak would never have occurred were it not for the movement of untested, TB-infected cattle to South Staffordshire,” said trust spokesman Trevor Lawson. “The disease was virtually unknown in the four parishes for at least eight years.”
He dismissed the judgement of local state veterinary officials and said there was no evidence to explain the final route of the disease to Mr Madders’ farm.
He said local veterinary officers could not claim, with any shred of certainty, to know the cause.
Source: FarmersGuardian
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