Farmer Richard Foss firmly believes badgers have infected his cattle. He called for a swift extension to the pilot culling schemes due to begin in Gloucestershire and Somerset.
The 63-year-old councillor - also chairman of the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty partnership - runs a closed herd. The only animals bought into his premises at Start Point are stud bulls, which are routinely tested for TB.
He now faces an agonising, rolling 60-day testing programme and the loss of more animals.
Described as someone who has “done more than most for wildlife”, Mr Foss said that countryside management was about 'more than the fluffy bits’.
"I have signed up to agri-environment schemes here for the last 15 or 20 years, so I use only the prescribed amounts of chemicals, artificial fertiliser,” he told the Western Morning News.
“I leave margins for wildlife, but if you are going to manage the countryside then you need to manage the whole. This is a horrendous disease for cattle and badgers and we have to eradicate it, however tough it may be.
"I expect to lose 10% of my herd and this will affect me financially for the next two years, if I come out of it quickly. The disease is devastating farmers around here.”
He said badger numbers had increased tenfold in the area during the past decade.
"The idea that farmers want to annihilate the badger is ridiculous," he added.
And the fourth generation farmer criticised "ill-informed" contributons to the TB debate from “B and C-list celebrities”.
"Are they helping the badgers, who are down dying in their holes. Are we doing them any favours? I don't think so." Read the full story here.