MADAM – Tragically, there will be a repeat of the ‘Badger Cull Civil War’ in England’s green and pleasant land.

With the over-stretched police expected to waste some £3 million trying to ensure the ‘biosecurity’ of cull shooters versus protestors.

Culls should have restarted on May 1, the end of the ‘closed season’, which is incidentally too short: sows may be lactating into June, and cubs need mum into July to learn territories and foraging/survival skills.

The delay may, according to leaks, be due to difficulties with Natural England and licensing issues. Even power gassing does not work in diffuse setts, and both gassing and snares, as an alternative to the crazy idea of ‘shooting free running badgers’, would be illegal under the 1972 and 1992 Badgers Acts, 1985 Wildlife and Countryside Act re the Bern Convention.

Incredibly sad and all utterly pointless since neither badger culls nor vaccines will stop the spread of TB. No-one understands how TB works in cows anymore since a generation has now grown up being told badgers are the main problem.

But the 85 per cent of new herd breakdowns, supposedly due to badgers, are in fact caused by early cattle reactors, which do not yet show lung lesions, hence so-called unconfirmed reactors. These are not perfectly healthy false positive cases (as with reactors to avian TB). They do have TB. Ironically, there are no TB badgers found after such minor breakdowns. The very simple solution, as used in Scotland is pre- and post- movement cattle tests.

It’s hilariously silly to imagine ‘ring vaccinating’ badgers in the new frontier area of Cumbria will have the slightest effect, since its all due to local cattle movements (see Death of Great Debate, www.badgersandtb.com).

And problem – chronic TB herds; some 2,000 at present under restriction up to 15 years; Adam Henson, Paul Gould, Dave Barton and many more.

A. Wills, of Wadebrige, with 1,100 cows had 15,000 tests last year.

Unbelievably no-one wants to see that in Ireland as they clearly understand that such herds have an active spreader cow which has gone past being a skin test reactor (anergic), so simply use a fast late TB blood antibody test, the Chemiluminescent ENFER test (ask them; cvera@ucd.ie).

Political correctness in continuing to blame Old Brock with meaningless culls which do not work is actually an obstacle to tackling the true source of the problem, which has been missed cattle all along.

Martin Hancox

Ex-government TB Panel

Stroud