I was pleased to see the announcement by the Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones recently that a limited badger cull, alongside stricter cattle measures, will take place in a pilot area of West Wales as part of the Welsh Assembly Government’s TB Eradication Programme.

The approach is based on evidence from a number of studies showing that culling badgers can reduce TB in cattle. An independent ecological study to assess potential consequences of a cull in the pilot area has been completed, and the Minister is satisfied that the approach is compatible with the relevant environmental legislation. The pilot will take place in a bovine TB endemic area where 42% of cattle owners have had at least one case of TB in their herd since 2003. It will be located mainly in north Pembrokeshire, but will also include small areas of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire.

As I’ve stated in the past the current situation surrounding Bovine TB is unsustainable and cost the taxpayer nearly £24million last year and could exceed £80million by 2014 if nothing is done. There has been a dramatic rise in the number of cases of bovine TB since 2000 when the compensation bill was just over £1million. In 1997 around 700 cattle were culled as a result of bovine TB and this increased to 12,000 by 2008. T he Welsh Government, under the lead of Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones, has recognised that tough decisions need to be made in order to tackle this growing problem. We know that cattle and badgers are the main sources of the disease. Our aim is to eradicate bovine TB and to do that we have to tackle the disease in both species. The approach being taken by the Welsh Government in the pilot area, carrying out a badger cull alongside strict cattle controls, has not been tried before in the UK. However, it is proving successful in countries like New Zealand, where wild possums and cattle are the main sources of infection.