A leading expert says the Welsh Government’s plan to wipe out TB in cattle is under threat as there may not be enough vets to carry it out.
Dr Gareth Enticott, Reader in Human Geography at Cardiff University will be giving evidence to the Welsh Government’s Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee on Thursday, where he will tell them that a lack of vets could seriously jeopardise their plans.
He says that half of all vets are from the EU and may be prevented from staying here after Brexit. Abattoirs have a legal duty to employ a vet to look after animal welfare. They carry out the post mortems on all those infected with TB and determine whether any part of the animal can be sold to the public. He says that private vets have been forced to reduce costs by employing cheaper labour from abroad and that British vets are reluctant to work in abattoirs, preferring to work with live animals.
Dr Enticott says the proposed Government strategy is to divide the country into different risk areas and part of Gwent falls in the high risk category. He says farmers there will be tested more frequently. Testing takes a day out of the working week and another to deal with the results. He says the stress of losing their favourite or best animals can lead to depression in farmers.
The Welsh Government have launched a consultation on the approach to the eradication of bovine TB in Wales. This runs until January 10th 2017.
