Farmers in west Wicklow want to see a deer cull in the area to assess the prevalence of TB among deer there. West Wicklow has seen a rise in herds testing positive for TB over the last 12 to 18 months.
“Up to now, the badger has been recognised as a problem, but in the east wicklow area of Calary, deer have also been recognised as a cause of infection in livestock,” said Billy Barrett, a dairy farmer from Dunlavin, Co Wicklow.
“The fact that the Department of Agriculture has no control over deer is a big problem.”
Seven of the 30 deer culled in the Calary and east Wicklow area tested positive for TB in 2015 – an infection rate of 23.3%, compared to the infection rate found in the first, larger cull taken among upland deer, which produced a figure of 15%.
The infection rate among cattle nationally is approximately 0.2%.
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