The Green Party today welcomed the announcement from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Michael Creed TD, that his department will introduce a badger vaccination programme to combat the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in cattle.
This programme is due to commence this month.
Reacting to the announcement, Green Party Spokesperson on Agriculture Pippa Hackett said: “We have long been opposed to the cruel snaring and culling of badgers, and our party policy has always supported such a vaccination programme. Badgers are a protected species under Irish law, yet the State has been responsible for the death of tens of thousands of badgers over past decades, with little or no impact on the incidence of TB in our nation’s cattle.
“The research has shown that vaccination is an effective means of controlling TB in badgers. However, other animals, including the cattle themselves, can also carry the disease, and further research will probably be required if we wish to eradicate this disease totally from our shores in the future.
“This long-awaited development will hopefully see a significant reduction in incidence of bovine TB. Not only will this greatly benefit the livelihoods for many of our farmers, it will also provide protection for one of our largest native mammals, the badger.”
