Submitted by:South West and Midland Region NCW

The National Council of Women, aware of the recent economic and personal problems arising from Tuberculosis in cattle, welcomes the proposals, set out in a public consultation exercise which ends in December, whereby farmers in areas of heavy TB infestation would be allowed to apply for licences to cull badgers by cage-trapping and shooting them, or ““ a much cheaper option ““ by “free shooting” as animals emerge from their setts in the evening, in an attempt to halt the serious and growing problems of this disease in badgers and its spread from them to a worrying range of other wild and domestic animals, as well as pets.