West Cornwall MP, Andrew George, showed Parliamentary colleague Baroness Kate Parminter how the Penwith badger vaccination project is progressing on Saturday 25th October.

Baroness Parminter is a former executive of the RSPCA and former Chair of the Campaign for the Protection of Hunted Animals and has a strong interest in environmental and animal protection matters.

Mr George introduced Baroness Parminter to the team managing the volunteer led badger vaccination project he set up with the Royal Zoological Society of London and which is now being rolled out across the Penwith peninsula. Professor Rosie Woodroffe (Project Manager) and Seth Jackson (local coordinator) demonstrated the project, and it’s likely contribution to the eradication of bovine TB in cattle. Cornwall Councillor Sue James also attended the event.

Mr George said, "It has been a pleasure to go out with Rosie and the team before and, as Baroness Parminter leads for the Party in the Lords on all Defra matters, I was particularly keen to make sure she could come along and see what was being achieved. It's great that volunteers have been so helpful and farmers so keen. No farmers have refused to take part and some who were not initially included in this year's vaccine plan have got in touch to ask to join. It's all going well.

"Two thirds of all the traps we checked that morning had badgers. All were treated with care and efficiency before being released when they had recovered from the anaesthetic. "Of course, only a small sample are given the full health check and micro-chipping etc.

"It would be great if the Government could be a little more supportive. We would be able to scale this up more quickly and make better progress. If Ministers were as open-minded as they claim they'd put as much into the support of this excellent project as they are into culling badgers in Gloucestershire and Somerset."