STUNELL TAKES ON STOCKPORT’S BADGER BATTLE

Andrew Stunell MP and local Stockport farmers met with the Minister for Badgers last week in Westminster to highlight the real threat Stockport farmers are facing to their livestock, and their livelihoods, as Bovine TB spreads north through Cheshire.

Bovine TB leads to a yearly loss of around 25,000 livestock and costs the UK dairy and beef industry around £100 million a year.

Commenting, Andrew said -

"I called for a meeting with the Minister so that local farmers could explain the real problems Stockport farmers are facing on the frontline of the northward spread of Bovine TB."

Mr Stunell had earlier challenged the Minister in Parliament over his ruling that vital information about where infected herds have been found cannot be passed on to neighbouring farmers.

"Commonsense says this information is needed to help farmers protect their own livestock from getting infected. It simply doesn't make sense for DEFRA, the Department responsible for stopping the spread of Bovine TB, to withhold information which could help local farmers do just that!"

At the meeting with local farmer Bill Mellor and Adam Briggs from the NFU the Minister agreed to look at ways of using local vets to alert farmers when culling had taken place.

Mr Stunell is also backing Cheshire Wildlife Trust who are developing an alternative to the controversial badger cull. They are running a pilot scheme to catch, vaccinate and release local badgers across southern Cheshire to create a disease-free zone. Their trial on their own farm was successful, so this summer they will be rolling the project out to 4 other areas.

"There is not one single way of stopping Bovine TB, but a combination of proper data sharing between farmers and a 'safe zone' could provide a barrier to the spread of the disease northwards" says Mr Stunell.