Rebecca Evans AM, Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, has welcomed the publication by the Welsh Government of the report of the second year of the badger vaccination programme in the Intensive Action Area (IAA).
The five year vaccination project in the Intensive Action Area (IAA) in West Wales is part of the Welsh Government’s wider programme of work to eradicate TB from cattle in Wales.
The vaccination work was carried out between May and November 2013 and over eight separate three week cycles. The first two weeks in each cycle focused on landowner liaison and preparatory work, with vaccination then taking place in the third week.
The report shows that in 2013, over 1350 badgers were successfully trapped and vaccinated in the IAA. In 2012 just over 1400 badgers were vaccinated.
Mrs Evans said: “I am pleased that the latest figures show that the level of Bovine TB in Wales has significantly reduced and that new incidents of the disease are down by nearly a 25% on the previous year. This is a real step in the right direction in terms of tackling a disease which causes huge stress to the farmers whose cattle are affected.
“These figures show that the Welsh Government has made the right call in taking a science-led approach and choosing to undertake a vaccination programme.
“By contrast, the UK Government’s Conservative Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, has dropped plans to roll out the controversial English badger cull after a damning independent report found that the cull pilots were neither effective nor humane.”
In a statement, the Welsh Government’s Minister for Natural Resources said that “the success of our badger vaccination project depends on our operatives being granted access to as much land as possible. Participation is voluntary so I am very pleased that in the second year of the project, staff gained access to more land than in the previous year. I would like to thank farmers and landowners for their ongoing co-operation.
“We are continuing to monitor the results of vaccination, and of our whole eradication programme, carefully to ensure we are making good progress towards our ultimate goal of eradicating TB from Wales.”
