Tuberculosis is not about
badgers or cattle. And now the spillover is affecting more and more animals,
including pets and companion mammals, it's just a matter of time. And
Defra's convoluted and insular way of
collating stats is not helpful. In fact it's damned misleading if not
duplicitous.
But people are getting wise to this.
Slowly.
Table 1 is cultures only - but as cattle owners may
know (but the alpaca people did not) only one is taken. The outbreak may involve
several animals - up to 108 is the bigest I've heard - but just a single sample
will be logged on Table 1. And that may not be the first death.
Table 2 is headed 'animals examined'. Now that is
really woolly. Examined? And? Do they then up in Table 1 when cultures are
cooked? Or worse, are they the negatives?
Neither. Table 2 figures are carcasses positive for
TB by postmortem at either a VI centre or by an LVI vet. And thus the two tables
should be added together as totals for animals in which Defra have
confirmed tuberculosis by either culture or pathology.
Missing completely are deaths, voluntary euthanasia
and skin or blood test failures sent to slaughter. Straight to the knacker yard,
or buried. Disappeared.
In this way 2010 figures of 43 alpacas in Table 1, is actually a single
sample from each breakdown. The 151 in Table 2 were examined (so 194 went past
VLA dead with confirmed TB) but the alpaca TB support group members report
around 400 of their animals dead, when skin test and gamma failures are added
in.
So the 'way out' Mary, as far as I can see, is to
remove the public's long distance comfort blanket of someone else's 'cattle' and
substitute ' MY pet' or 'MY alpaca'. Only then will tuberculosis in a wildlife
reservoir, become their problem as much as it is for any cattle
farmer.
Just a thought