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.