Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has said there is a “different source of TB (Tuberculosis) in Fermanagh and throughout Northern Ireland and pledged to cut down the risk of transmission of the disease from wild animals.

During a discussion at Stormont, Minister Poots was asked to “recognise the severe impact” of the bacterial infection on the diary sector and on farmers who have lost pedigree milk cows as a result.

“Yes, I recognise it,” he told the Assembly. “I know farmers who have lost hundreds of animals, and the damage to them mentally and the stress caused are huge”.

“ In many cases, the family line of the animal has been in the herd for 20 or 30 years and the farmer has been developing those genetics for many years. Excellent cows are being removed from the system, but they are not removing the source of the problem,” he said.

Minister Poots added: “The science is there. We are able to link badgers and other wildlife, including deer — but badgers, in particular — to that particular type of TB”.

“There is a wide range of TB across Northern Ireland. You get a different source of TB in mid-Down from that in south Down, that in Armagh, that in Fermanagh and so forth.

“Each type can be linked to the wildlife in each area. We have some very high concentrations of badgers, and they have very high levels of TB,” he said.

Minister Poots said it is in the interests of the welfare of both the bovine and the wildlife population to ensure “that we eradicate the TB, and we are not doing that by just killing the cows”.