Sir, You report that the British Veterinary Association has asked ministers to write off the tuition fees of vet students to avert a decline in farm animal practices (report, Feb 8). Your readers should be aware that there is already a crisis in veterinary provision for livestock in many rural areas.
This is associated with the poor financial state of livestock farms and the lack of appropriate reward for the hard, grinding effort needed to carry out the work.
Unless Defra also addresses these other factors then both animal welfare and the proactive surveillance needed to stem diseases such as foot-and- mouth and bird flu will be severely compromised.
CLEDWYN THOMAS
Edinburgh