APPENDIX 1
Memorandum submitted by Mr Paul Holliday,
Independent Feed Supplements Ltd (P2)
I write in response to the invitation from DEFRA
to submit evidence for your consideration.
It has been my pleasure to supply animal feed
supplements to livestock farmers all over the UK for thirty four
years. My first observation is that there is a crisis in the incidence
of bovine TB in both farmed and wild animals in southern England.
The controls are currently ineffective. With TB, livestock farmers
are locked into an impossible and deteriorating situation.
My key submission is that currently the controls
are ineffective because in the most affected areas they only include
farmed bovines, and exclude infected wild bovines.
I have direct and significant evidence that
when there is no wildlife reserve of TB, the infection can be
contained very effectively.
In 34 years of supplying cattle farmers on The
Isle of Man, where there is no TB wildlife reserve, badgers are
not a native species, and TB control is solid.
For all those years, most Manx farmers have
been completely protected from the TB problems of southern England.
In the absence of a wild life reserve, cattle to cattle transmission
of TB infection appears to be very minimal. Confirmed Reactors—rare.
The only notable exception was last year, when,
in January 2002, post-FM, one imported animal was detected with
TB. By the end of 2003, the testing process and precautionary
slaughtering of original—traced contacts had completely
contained the infection. The island was very effectively cleared
of infection in one year.
It has always bothered me that two communities
of farmers should have such contrasting experiences of an important
animal health (and originally human health) responsibility. Like
most country people, I like to see harmony of farmed and wild
animals, living together in an ecological balance. To me, the
welfare of both are equally important. Currently—both are
suffering unwittingly.
I have no other suggestion than that the problems
of TB infection on farms and in the wild cannot be effectively
tackled in isolation from each other, as is the case on many affected
farms in southern England. Because DEFRA does have a broad spectrum
base now, safe food production in a balanced environment, this
could be one instance where effective action, taken with courage,
could provide a gradual solution, rather than the present escalating
problem.
Also, to demonstrate that this is an attempt
at a balanced submission, I am a founding trustee of Gloucestershire
Environmental Trust, a registered charity funding a wide range
of environmental projects, including enhancing and protecting
wildlife, and wildlife habitats.
24 January 2003
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