CLA backs badger cull companies as pilot starts

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) logo

The CLA has backed the companies and farmers engaged in the pilot badger control operations which have begun.

CLA President Harry Cotterell said: “These pilot badger controls are a vital start to the programme to tackle and eradicate Bovine TB, a disease that is devastating to farmers, rural businesses and landowners.

“Managing TB in badgers is an essential part of the strategy seeking to eradicate this terrible disease from livestock and wildlife in England.

"Bovine TB in England has already cost the taxpayer an estimated £500million in the past decade, and, without a wildlife control programme including the cull, this would rise to around £1billion over the next 10 years.”