I WAS very sad to read of Angela Winsor’s plight in losing most of her cattle herd to bovine TB in Moylegrove.

Like her, I also think that ‘Something must be done’ and soon. I disagree however, that culling badgers is the answer.

The pilot culls planned in Gloucestershire and Somerset will not solve the problem there either.

The method of night shooting of running badgers will not only result in ‘perturbation’, but also of many wounded badgers dying in agony back in their setts.

Shooting a moving target at night is notoriously difficult even with specialist equipment and the correct weapons.

No-one will know whether the badger shot even has or had TB as no post-mortems will be carried out.

The only sensible answer is vaccination, as my distant relative Edward Jenner, who conquered smallpox, decided.

All badgers and all cattle should be vaccinated and quickly, using human BCG vaccine until the certified bovine vaccine is available in enough quantity.

The EU law banning vaccinated cattle from being exported must be repealed or ignored.

Slaughtering wildlife in a national park and popular tourist destination is a recipe for clashes between farmers and tourists, and will make farmers very unpopular even with people like myself who live in rural Pembrokeshire but came here for the wildlife.

While sympathising with farmers’ desperate situation, I do not agree with slaughtering wildlife mainly for cost reasons.

The costs are always mentioned when these plans are discussed, but never the negative impact on tourism in the selected cull areas.

Vaccination is the only lasting answer.

MR R. J. S. JENNER
Member of the Badger Trust and Badger Watch and Rescue Dyfed
Fishguard