PETA have written to Jeremy Clarkson urging him to stop breeding animals on his Diddly Squat farm after it was hit by a tuberculosis outbreak in the last few weeks
15:04, 22 Aug 2025Updated 15:17, 22 Aug 2025
Television personality Jeremy Clarkson has faced calls from PETA to cease animal farming at his property following a "devastating" tuberculosis outbreak. The Clarkson's Farm presenter witnessed his Diddly Squat Farm's animals devastated by bovine TB in recent weeks.
β
Clarkson originally purchased the Oxfordshire property in 2008, renting it out before assuming farming duties himself in 2019.
β
The debut series of the hit Amazon Prime programme proved enormously successful and has secured renewal for a fifth season, though the TB crisis marked one of the most significant setbacks since Clarkson acquired the farm.
β
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has now penned a letter to Clarkson encouraging him to abandon animal breeding and transform the site into a plant-based operation, reports the Express.
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".
β
The correspondence, shared exclusively with the Express, 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."
β
During a chat with Times Radio earlier this month, Jeremy confirmed the "dreadful" news regarding the outbreak.
He revealed: "It's awful, it is awful. You have a test every six months on the cows and then you sort of become blaseΜ, it's a hypothetical threat.
β
"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, formerly Twitter, stated: "Bad news from Diddly Squat. We've gone down with TB. Everyone here is absolutely devastated."
Clarkson rose to fame alongside Richard Hammond and James May as one of the hosts of the revamped Top Gear, fronting the BBC programme almost continuously from 1988 to 2015 before departing the corporation after he struck a producer.
β
Clarkson, Hammond and May subsequently created The Grand Tour, which aired on Amazon Prime until last year.
He has also achieved tremendous success with Clarkson's Farm on the streaming platform, which follows Clarkson mastering farming techniques on his 1,000 acre Cotswolds estate with guidance from experienced agricultural workers. PETA attempted to entice Clarkson to embrace their proposal.
The letter 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 twice yearly TB testing as it sits within an "edge area" for the disease, meaning it serves as a buffer zone between high risk and low risk regions.
The illness, 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.