CEREDIGION County Council has urged the Welsh Government to implement a targeted cull on badgers in the county in a bid to reverse the rise in bovine tuberculosis in Wales.

At a meeting of full council last week, members discussed the restrictions currently imposed on cattle due to an increase in the disease in Wales during the past 12 months.

Latest figures show that the number cattle slaughtered as a result of contracting TB in Wales rose 27 per cent in 2015.

Cllr Dafydd Lloyd said: “This is having a devastating effect on the well-being of animals, emotional stress on people operating and employed on farms, financial viability of the individual businesses and is a contributory factor to the fragility of the Ceredigion economy.

“At the end of the day I would not like to have culling of any animal, but the truth is there is a cull scheme going on with the cattle.

“In the past ten years in Wales 82,500 have been killed — that is more than the entire population of Ceredigion.”

Councillors agreed that the TB crisis needed to be tackled, but for some a badger cull was not the solution.

Cllr Alun Williams proposed for a science-based solution rather than the killing of wildlife - a view supported by some members who claimed there was a lack of scientific evidence to support a cull.

“My concern is that in England targeted culls have only managed to kill 70 to 80 per cent of the badger population,” said Cllr Williams.

“The remaining badgers have scattered and spread the virus to badgers that were not previously affected.”

However, councillors agreed to issue a call to the Welsh Government to support a targeted badger cull in the county.

Members also urged that such a cull be supported by all political parties.