Skip to content
Network For Animals Logo
Network For Animals Logo
  • How we take action
    • Cats In Crisis
    • Disaster Relief
    • Dogs In Distress
    • Donkey and Equine Care and Rescue
    • Ukraine War
  • News
  • About
    • Meet Our Team
    • Financials
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • How we take action
    • Cats In Crisis
    • Disaster Relief
    • Dogs In Distress
    • Donkey and Equine Care and Rescue
    • Ukraine War
  • News
  • About
    • Meet Our Team
    • Financials
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Donate
Donate now
  • How we take action
    • Cats In Crisis
    • Disaster Relief
    • Dogs In Distress
    • Donkey and Equine Care and Rescue
    • Ukraine War
  • News
  • About
    • Meet Our Team
    • Financials
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Donate
Menu
  • How we take action
    • Cats In Crisis
    • Disaster Relief
    • Dogs In Distress
    • Donkey and Equine Care and Rescue
    • Ukraine War
  • News
  • About
    • Meet Our Team
    • Financials
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Donate

The bTB Crisis- One Farmer’s Experience.

  • April 5, 2017
  • Badger Cull
  • United Kingdom

Many people who quite rightly oppose badger culling assume that farmers are the enemy.  After all, the National Farmers Union (NFU) shouts very loudly about badgers being the cause of the Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) crisis in cattle, and Liz Truss and her team at DEFRA are often seen to appease them. In fact,  this very moment, the NFU is lobbying DEFRA in a bid to create what they say will be a new, “independent” bTB Advisory Board. What many people don’t realise is that the NFU don’t speak for all farmers. The ones they certainly do speak for are rich, landowning farmers.

As NFA pointed out in October,  the plight of many farmers in the midst of the bTB crisis is being ignored by DEFRA, and indeed the NFU. Many of these farmers are highly opposed to the badger cull. Not only because it is inhumane but because it is distracting everyone from the real issue, which is destroying their lives: solving the bTB crisis in cattle.

[box]

Sign our urgent petition to Liz Truss, MP

[/box]

NFA spoke to Myra Welsh, an organic farmer from Cornwall, about her opinions about the badger cull, the bTB crisis in cattle, and her experiences with DEFRA.

Myra was forced to have one of her home bred bulls destroyed after he tested positive for bTB. After this incident, a DEFRA official came to Myra’s farm. Myra decided to question him to get a better understanding of some of the issues which were concerning her. Especially as to why badgers in particular were being targeted.  Badgers are not the enemy as far as this farmer is concerned. In fact, Myra has been part of a badger vaccination programme for four years, and is an avid nature lover. “We have CCTV cameras on a badger sett, so we are able to enjoy watching them in their natural habitats”, she explained.

Myra asked the official why DEFRA is going after badgers in particular.

“The man from DEFRA told me that badgers have been connected to bTB for a long time but only because they are seen in the dairy sheds, cattle barns and feed stores. But he said there was no conclusive evidence”.

After her bull tested positive for bTB and was slaughtered, DEFRA ordered Myra to quarantine the field for 60 days. Myra found it strange that during this quarantine period, sheep were allowed into that field to graze. “This has to be insane”, said Myra. ” There is no reason why sheep would not be able to contract bTB”. Myra asked the official why sheep aren’t being tested too, given that they often shared fields with cattle. His reply,said Myra was that “it would be too difficult”.

Myra is understandably upset and frustrated by the way DEFRA is handling things. Like Network for Animals, she believes that to really tackle the bTB crisis, the focus needs to shift away from badgers, and onto the solutions which will really help. She explained:

[box]

“The whole testing system is archaic. We need to spend more money on a vaccine that we can choose to have and we need it now rather than later. If we can find a vaccine for measles, mumps etc it has to be achievable. What we need is the will and the funding to make it happen.”

[/box]

Let’s hope Liz Truss, George Eustice, and the rest of DEFRA are listening to farmers like Myra. DEFRA needs to focus on its 25 year bTB strategy. Instead of placating the NFU at every turn. Do they want to solve the bTB crisis, or not?

[box]

Sign our urgent petition to Liz Truss, MP

[/box]

By supporting our work, you are reaching out with caring hands to stop animal abuse

Please donate now
Stay up to date

Stay up to date

Share link

“Miracle Dog” Who Survived 72 Days in the Colorado Mountains After her Owner’s Death is Recovering, had “Ravenous Appetite”

Article written by CBS News Originally published by CBS NEWS (Fri, Nov 17, 2023) A faithful dog who survived after spending more than 10 weeks by her

22 November 2023

Dogs Produce Tears when Reunited with Owners, Study Finds

Article written by Nicola Davis Originally published by The Guardian (Mon, Aug 22, 2023) Research is first to demonstrate positive emotion provoking tears in a

16 November 2023

South Korea to Ban Eating Dog Meat

Article written by SKY NEWS Originally published by sky news (Fri, Nov 17, 2023) The popularity of eating dog meat has fallen dramatically in South

12 November 2023

Spain: More than 400 Animals Rescued from Illegal Trading Network

Article written by Kathryn Armstrong Originally published by BBC (Wed, Oct 18, 2023) More than 400 animals, mainly cats and dogs, have been rescued from

8 November 2023

Help us fight cruelty to animals around the world

Click here to donate

Network for Animals

Network for Animals is a non-government, international animal welfare organization crusading for animals around the world.

© Network for Animals
Terms and conditions/ Privacy policy
Cookie policy

Campaigns

Cats In Crisis Disaster Relief Dogs In Distress Equine Care and Rescue Ukraine War Worldwide Donkey Crisis

Stay up to date

Receive our regular emails about our campaigns for animals around the world.

Sign up

Contact us

UK: +44 (0)20 8471 7666
USA: +1 727 599 8148
South Africa: 
+ 27 21 794 9149

info@networkforanimals.org

Facebook-f Twitter Youtube Instagram Linkedin
Donate
Subscribe

Sign up to our newsletter

enEnglish
af Afrikaans sqAlbanian amAmharic arArabic hyArmenian azAzerbaijani euBasque beBelarusian bnBengali bsBosnian bgBulgarian caCatalan cebCebuano nyChichewa zh-CNChinese (Simplified) zh-TWChinese (Traditional) coCorsican hrCroatian csCzech daDanish nlDutch enEnglish eoEsperanto etEstonian tlFilipino fiFinnish frFrench fyFrisian glGalician kaGeorgian deGerman elGreek guGujarati htHaitian Creole haHausa hawHawaiian iwHebrew hiHindi hmnHmong huHungarian isIcelandic igIgbo idIndonesian gaIrish itItalian jaJapanese jwJavanese knKannada kkKazakh kmKhmer koKorean kuKurdish (Kurmanji) kyKyrgyz loLao laLatin lvLatvian ltLithuanian lbLuxembourgish mkMacedonian mgMalagasy msMalay mlMalayalam mtMaltese miMaori mrMarathi mnMongolian myMyanmar (Burmese) neNepali noNorwegian psPashto faPersian plPolish ptPortuguese paPunjabi roRomanian ruRussian smSamoan gdScottish Gaelic srSerbian stSesotho snShona sdSindhi siSinhala skSlovak slSlovenian soSomali esSpanish suSudanese swSwahili svSwedish tgTajik taTamil teTelugu thThai trTurkish ukUkrainian urUrdu uzUzbek viVietnamese cyWelsh xhXhosa yiYiddish yoYoruba zuZulu

Lisa-Mari Spence

Leadership Gifts Officer

Lisa-Mari was raised in South Africa and joined the NFA team as the UK fundraiser after relocating to Greece. With a background in public relations and a passion for helping animals her role at NFA is a perfect match.

Alissa Ford

Director of Leadership Gifts, USA

Alissa is the Director of Leadership Gifts in the United States. She has a background in nonprofit fundraising and marketing, but believes all paths led her to Network for Animals, where she is able to combine her professional experience with her personal passion for animal welfare. Alissa lives in Boston, Massachusetts with her husband and her fur-baby Ollie, who is treated like the prince he thinks he is, since his human brother and sister are grown and now living on their own. Alissa loves speaking to our supporters who she truly considers a community of fellow animal lovers.