Farmers round on RSPCA ads seeking to protect badgers
UK - The RSPCA has had two complaints from farmers upheld against it for an ad protesting against the culling of badgers.
27 September 2006
1 minute read
The Advertising Standards Authority backed the Farmers Union of Wales and one farmer, who complained that the newspaper ad was misleading.
In it, the RSPCA stated that cattle-to-cattle transmission was the main cause of the spread of TB, and not badger-to-cattle.
"So what are some farmers putting pressure on the government to do about it? That's right, slaughter thousands of badgers," the ad read.
The farmers who complained pointed out the spread of bovine tuberculosis was much more complicated than that.
Despite the RSPCA claiming scientists backed its assertions, the ASA noted several reports into cases of bTB, which could not come to a conclusion about how it had been spread.
One recent study found that badgers could have caused anything between 26% and 85% of bovine tuberculosis cases in 2002/3.
Source: brandrepublic.com
