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Case Studies and Articles Latest |
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9 Mar 2013, 8:16 PM
Bovine TB and cattle vaccination - Rethink bTB's submission to EFRA read more...
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9 Mar 2013, 8:07 PM
The following is the formal response submitted to EFRA by farmers who own a 48ha farm in Gloucestershire and have kept beef cattle since the 1980's in a TB 'hot-spot'. The business has included a commercial beef and calf rearing unit but the herd has never been under TB2 restrictions. It makes some excellent points and is well worth reading. It has been reproduced here with permission from the farmers. read more...
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15 Jan 2013, 8:33 PM
TB Health Check Wales was a zero tolerance policy aimed at TB testing all cattle in Wales. It was introduced on October 2008 and ran to the end of December 2009. It was a test of all cattle herds in Wales over a 15 month period 'to provide a more accurate picture of the disease'. According to Gwlad, Bovine TB Special Edition Summer 2010 the campaign is costing some £27.7 million ( with funding from EU). With the increased testing an increasing number of positive and inconclusive animals were identified and slaughtered since the programme began. The costs continued to escalate, as did the hardship to cattle owners suffering continuous testing and herd breakdowns. read more...
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8 Jan 2013, 5:54 PM
The Republic of Ireland has been culling badgers since the 1980s and it is understood there was national culling from 1997. Between 1996 and 2006 about 4,000 badgers were culled each year. Most are caught using snares and then shot. One study, known as the Four Areas Project, alleges reductions in cattle TB incidence ranging from 51% to 68% over a five-year culling period. The information is being used to help support badger culling in England. Culling is still underway. However, one vet, formerly practising in Donegal, is questioning the claims being made. He believes perturbation is a much bigger threat than we are being led to believe. He is concerned that Ireland has officially denied any perturbation at all. read more...
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14 Dec 2012, 6:09 PM
In December 2012 a farmer from Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, an alleged bTB hot spot area and venue for one of the infamous pilot badger culls next year, was taken to court for offences relating to bTB controls. The fraud offences could be summarised as deliberate swapping of identities of TB reactor cattle with healthy livestock; retaining the reactor animal and producing milk from it; and in one case having a calf born to a reactor cow. read more...
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25 Nov 2012, 4:50 PM
BOVINE TB ERADICATION STRATEGY - Strengthening the eradication programme and new ways of working. The ANIMAL WELFARE GROUP has submitted an interesting representation to the Government's new Animal Health and Welfare Board. As it contains some useful and interesting information we are setting it out in fu read more...
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3 Nov 2012, 3:48 PM
There are an increasing number of alpacas being dragged into the system, many are pets. The owners are coerced into having them tested using the skin and blood tests that seem to be even more imperfect for this species than they are for cattle. Many alpacas are being slaughtered after testing positive to the badger Brock TB stat pak. There are no alterations to this test assay other than camelid blood. They are then found to have absolutely no sign of bTB, either at post-mortem or following tissue culture. This is the distressing story of one owner and her alpacas. read more...
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20 Oct 2012, 7:44 PM
Farmers want vaccination for their cattle, not badger culls. Despite losing more than half their valuable organic herd of beef cattle, a Devon farming partnership is against the badger cull. Instead they want a 'vaccine that works.' read more...
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15 Oct 2012, 5:50 PM
Dave Purser owns a 48ha pasture farm in Glos. He comes from a local farming family and has kept his own cattle since the 1980′s in a TB ‘hot-spot’. The business has included a commercial beef and calf rearing unit but the herd has never been under TB2 restrictions. Here he gives his views on the bovine TB problems. read more...
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13 Oct 2012, 6:48 PM
Steve Jones has 35 years of experience working within a diverse range of livestock enterprises; from small to medium sized units to large scale agri-business within various locations around the globe. He is trained in organic milk and meat production and have extensive practical and theoretical knowledge in all aspects of the industry including: calf rearing; hoof trimming; herd health; cattle breeding and day to day management at the highest level. He has managed some of the highest yielding dairy herds in the world while attaining consistent levels of hygiene and disease resistance within the livestock under my control. He is also a qualified lecturer in rural and environmental studies. read more...
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Shropshire Vet Suspended for Dishonest TB Certification |
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20 Mar 2011, 6:51 PM
On 15 March 2100 the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) suspended from the Register for ten months a veterinary surgeon found to have dishonestly certified that he carried out bovine tuberculosis (TB) testing and measured and recorded the test reactions of 248 cattle, when in fact he knew he had not tested all the animals. The RCVS is the regulatory body for veterinary surgeons in the UK and deals with issues of professional misconduct, maintaining the register of veterinary surgeons eligible to practise in the UK and assuring standards of veterinary education.
At the start of the two-day hearing, John Owen-Thomas of Teme Veterinary Practice, Ludlow, Shropshire, admitted that in September 2009 he had dishonestly certified that all the cattle on a farm had been tested for TB when he knew he had not tested all of them. He also admitted failing adequately to identify the cattle he had tested, failing to measure the skin-folds of all the animals, and to entering false information into the national cattle-tracing recording system about the reaction measurements he had purportedly taken.
The facts of the case, accepted by Mr Owen-Thomas, were that whilst working as an Official Veterinarian (OV) for Animal Health, an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, he had visited a farm to carry out TB testing on 248 cattle, following the discovery of TB reactors in the herd.
Mr Owen-Thomas did not, however, check the animals' ear-tag numbers or make any notes about the individual animals he was testing, as required by Animal Health procedures. When subsequently checking for test reactions, he only measured cattle on whose necks he felt a lump, when he should have checked them all; there were also a number of animals which were not tested. Despite this, skin thickness measurements were entered into the records for all 248 animals. The matter came to light during a farm visit from Animal Health after a chance conversation with the farmer. Mr Owen then admitted he had not tested all the cattle as recorded, and was suspended from OV work.
"On previous occasions the Committee has emphasised the importance of the integrity of the certification process," said Beverley Cottrell, chairing the Committee. "The validity of any certificate is an integral part of the system relating to disease control and the maintenance of public health. It is essential that all particulars concerning the animal are true and that all requirements have been complied with." The Committee also considered that, as an OV, Mr Owen-Thomas was in a position of trust and responsibility which he failed adequately to discharge, particularly as there had been TB in the herd. That Mr Owen-Thomas undermined procedures in place to prevent the spread of disease was a further aggravating factor.
"However, the Committee considers that Mr Owen-Thomas's prompt admissions demonstrate insight into the unacceptable nature of his actions," said Mrs Cottrell, noting as mitigating factors the attestations from farming clients as to his skill and dedication to his work, and that the charge related to a single farm visit. "False certification will inevitably lead to consideration of the removal of a Member's name from the Register ['striking off']," she continued. "However, the Committee has concluded that in this case the removal of Mr Owen-Thomas's name from the Register is neither necessary in the public interest, nor necessary to protect the welfare of animals, nor is proportionate."
The Committee directed that Mr Owen-Thomas's name be suspended from the Register for a period of ten months. For full details of this case see http://www.rcvs.org.uk/document-library/owen-thomas-2011-decision/
RCVS disciplinary powers are exercised through the Preliminary Investigation and Disciplinary Committees, established in accordance with Schedule 2 to the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 (the 1966 Act). The RCVS has authority to deal with three types of case:
a) Fraudulent registration
b) Criminal convictions
c) Allegations of disgraceful professional conduct
The Disciplinary Committee is a constituted judicial tribunal under the 1966 Act and follows rules of evidence similar to those used in a court of law.
The burden of proving an allegation falls upon the RCVS, and the RCVS must prove to the standard that the Committee is sure.
A respondent veterinary surgeon may appeal a Disciplinary Committee decision to the Privy Council within 28 days of the date of the decision. If no appeal is received, the Committee's judgment takes effect after this period.
Further information, including the original charges against Mr Owen-Thomas and the Committee's findings and decision, can be found at http://www.rcvs.org.uk/document-library/owen-thomas-2011-decision/
For more information contact: Ian Holloway, +44(0)20-7202-0727 i.holloway@rcvs.org.uk
Taken from the Press Release LONDON, March 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Also see websites http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=315187 and http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=661161&Itemid=29
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