CLAIMS that proposals for a cull of diseased badgers should be abandoned because of a fall in the number of cattle diagnosed with bovine TB in the early part of this year have been labelled irresponsible.
The Country Land and Business Association said the slight fall in cases could be attributable to a number of factors and ministers should not loose sight of the fact that there were still some 3,300 herds under restriction and almost a thousand new cases reported in the first three months of the year.
"TB is an extremely serious disease which is difficult to control both in animals and in humans and it is wholly irresponsible to suggest that a slight fall in the number of cases in cattle should divert us from taking the measures which are necessary to control and eventually eradicate TB," said Sarah Slade, the CLA's TB advisor.
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