Paisley Makes Westminster Call on Bovine TB

Mr Paisley was speaking in a debate in the House of Commons on the issue after the Government backtracked on a previous pledge to proceed.

Speaking from Westminster the DUP MP said: “Tuberculosis is a complex disease which presents a considerable threat to both our national milk herd and to wildlife. Bovine TB is one of the United Kingdom’s most significant animal health issues and costs the economy over £100million every year across the country.

“No one should treat any issue which involves the culling of wildlife or valuable cattle lightly and it is frankly criminal for some around this debate to suggest that any decision of this nature is taken lightly by those who favour a targeted cull of badgers. It is also not an issue of town versus country, but one of animal health, welfare and husbandry which ultimately affects the food we all eat.

“Those in favour of culling are not advocates of indiscriminate killing as some claim, rather a targeted cull of badgers in an area with hard boundaries. That targeted, managed and humane cull would also take place within an area where badgers are a significant contributing factor to Bovine TB. In this area I do have to commend the Republic of Ireland where a badger cull has already taken place and had led to a significant reduction in confirmed new infection rates in herds,” said Mr Paisley.

“There is also a need to continue the search for a vaccine because we require a cocktail of measures to tackle this problem. However the simple fact is that given the costs inflicted by this problem, we simply have to do something,” he said.