Television personality Jeremy Clarkson has been called out by PETA as they urged him to halt animal suffering at his farm following a “devastating” tuberculosis outbreak. The Clarkson’s Farm presenter has witnessed his Diddly Squat farm livestock be decimated by bovine TB in recent weeks.
Jeremy originally purchased the Oxfordshire farm in 2008, renting it out before assuming farming duties himself in 2019.
The debut series of the smash hit Amazon Prime programme proved enormously successful and was last year renewed for a fifth season, though the TB outbreak marked one of the most significant setbacks since Clarkson acquired the property.
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has now penned a letter to Clarkson calling on him to cease animal breeding at the farm and transition to a plant-based operation. The organisation states they dispatched correspondence “urging him to ensure that no more animals suffer and die at his hands by making the farm an animal sanctuary and focusing on his mushroom and vegetable farming”.
The letter stated: “Perhaps behind the bravado and banter lies a man who wants to find a better way. That’s why we’re writing to you today.
“We believe this could be a turning point for you and a golden opportunity to leave behind the violence of breeding and farming animals.
“Lean into your mushroom and vegetable farming and let Diddly Squat Farm evolve into a sanctuary for both you and the animals still housed there. No more killing. No more heartache.”
During a Times Radio interview earlier this month, Jeremy confirmed the “dreadful” news regarding the outbreak.
He explained: “It’s awful, it is awful. You have a test every six months on the cows and then you sort of become blasé, it’s a hypothetical threat.
“And then the vet looks up as he did yesterday lunchtime and said ‘I’m really sorry this one’s failed’. So that means we’re now locked down and it’s just dreadful, absolutely dreadful.”
A post on X, previously known as Twitter, stated: “Bad news from Diddly Squat. We’ve gone down with TB. Everyone here is absolutely devastated.”
Clarkson rose to prominence alongside Richard Hammond and James May as part of the revamped Top Gear presenting trio, leading the BBC programme virtually continuously from 1988 to 2015 before departing the corporation following an incident where he struck a producer.
Clarkson, Hammond and May subsequently created The Grand Tour, which aired on Amazon Prime until it ended last year.
He has also achieved remarkable success with Clarkson’s Farm on the streaming platform, which follows Clarkson as he masters farming techniques on his 1,000 acre Cotswolds estate under the guidance of experienced agricultural workers.
PETA attempted to entice Clarkson to embrace their scheme. The correspondence went on: “If Clarkson agrees to the plant-powered proposal, PETA would celebrate by making him the ambassador of its new website, BritishFarming.org, which encourages farmers, consumers, and policymakers to end animal suffering, protect the environment, and support rural communities by switching to kind, sustainable plant farming.”
TB can prove contagious to all mammals, including humans. Clarkson’s farm undergoes TB testing twice annually as it sits within an “edge area” for the illness, meaning it serves as a buffer zone between high risk and low risk regions.
The condition, which has been known to devastate farming enterprises, primarily affects the respiratory system and can spread through nose-to-nose contact and via exposure to saliva, urine, faeces and milk.
A representative for Clarkson has been approached for comment.
