§ Mr. Cryerasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he has any proposals under consideration for the gassing of badgers on the assumption that they are carriers of bovine tuberculosis; what reports and experimental data such assumptions are based on; and what evidence of the levels of the badger population he is taking into account when examining any proposals.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Fareham (Mr. Lloyd) on 30 October and to the report by Lord Zuckerman, "Badgers, Cattle and Tuberculosis" which was published the same day. The best estimate we have of the number of sets in each county is that provided by the Mammal Society and reproduced in appendix II of the Zuckerman report.—[Vol. 991, c.357-58.]