By a strange irony, at least one of those who has been most vociferously opposed to the badger cull in Wales has been equally vociferous of his support for the new ConDem coalition between his party and the Tories in Westminster.
I'm sure that when Peter Black read this in their full agreement yesterday, it might not have raised his eyebrows:
• As part of a package of measures, we will introduce a carefully managed and science-led policy of badger control in areas with high and persistent levels of bovine tuberculosis.
But exactly what form of control the ConDem coalition had in mind has now become clearer. This is what Jim Paice, the new farm minister, had to say in this morning's Farmer's Weekly:
Minister confirms badger cull to combat bovine TB
DEFRA farm minister Jim Paice has confirmed that badgers will be culled to combat bovine tuberculosis in cattle. A targeted cull of badgers will take place once the right “hot spot” locations have been identified.
Mr Paice made the pledge during a visit to the Devon County Show on Thursday (20 May).
"Down here in the south west, in Devon, clearly bovine TB is a major problem. The coalition agreement quite clearly says that we will carry out a scientifically-led targeted cull of badgers in hot spot areas," Mr Paice told show visitors.
A DEFRA spokeswoman added, "The coalition has committed itself to badger control in areas of high incidence. The coalition includes culling in a package of measures. The package will include the vaccination option. The pilot in Wales will be informative about the implementation and rollout of a cull. The fact that a cull is about to start in Pembrokeshire is an interesting opportunity for us to see how a cull can be achieved. We will all learn from the way Wales embarks upon it."
Those who are opposed to any element of culling to control bTB are, of course, just as entitled to their views as those who believe otherwise. But they will no longer be able to point to England and say that Wales has gone off on a tangent. Quite the contrary. Elin Jones took the hard decisions and has been able to justify them in the face of all the criticism and legal action that has been thrown at her.
Now England has decided to follow her lead.
3 comments:
Peter Black is getting more and more deluded in his rants. It is interesting to see him implode under pressure.
I completely agree with you that Elin Jones has shown real bravery and leadership in deciding to go ahead with the cull in the face of widespread opposition. Hopefully the people of urban Wales will realise that this cull is the only way to put a lid on the issue until another solution can be found.
I have recently written an article on the cull on my blog.
http://llaismerthyrvoice.blogspot.com/
The anti-cull groups that Peter Black has associated himself with are unreasonable and sometimes lunatic. They use terms like 'genocide' and 'eradication of a native species' ignoring the fact that this cull will only take place in a restricted target area.
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