OCTOBER 23, 2013 1. Chair thanked everyone for joining the teleconference which had been convened at Board members’ request to consider the latest developments in relation to the badger cull. The Chair confirmed that a letter had been received from the Badger Trust on 18 October 2013. The Chair reminded […]
1. It’s not ‘just’ a pilot Roughly 2000 badgers will be shot in each area. 11,000 badgers have been killed and £40m has already been spent (The Randomised Badger Culling Trial) to determine whether badger culling works to reduce btb. This new ‘pilot’ will not test the reduction in btb […]
A four-year programme to vaccinate Somerset badgers against bovine TB (bTB) has begun. The project is part of a nationwide initiative by badger groups to offer vaccination opportunities to farmers and landowners. Areas of Somerset and Gloucestershire are designated as badger killing areas, pending an Appeal Court hearing next month, and […]
This article comes from a farmer who owns a 48ha pasture farm in Glos. He comes from a local farming family and has kept his own cattle since the 1980’s in a TB ‘hot-spot’. The business has included a commercial beef and calf rearing unit but the herd has never […]
Yesterday Caroline Spelman announced that she was ‘minded to allow a cull’ of badgers in two hotspot areas for bovine tb, most likely Devon and Gloucestershire. This will follow more consultation on the methods to be used (shooting of free running badgers), and whether or not they are considered to […]
15th July 2011. The Coalition Government must now abandon its proposal to kill badgers following this week’s powerful condemnation by the scientists most closely concerned with research into culling [1]. They were Lord Krebs, who designed the Randomised Badger Culling Trial, Prof John Bourne, chairman and members of the Independent […]
13th July 2011 REACTIVE badger culling doubles the risk of bTB breakdown on herds within one kilometre of the culled area. That’s the stark warning from the latest scientific research by Imperial College. Using rigorous analytical techniques the research [1], released today (July 13) underlines once again the dangers inherent in attempts […]
11th July 2011 SEVEN months after its consultation on badger culling was closed, the Government is still refusing to disclose even the barest results. Describing the secrecy as an affront to the tens of thousands of voters who took part, the Badger Trust said today: “This is the Government […]
Tuesday 14th June 2011 Agriculture Minister James Paice has announced further delays to the proposed killing of badgers in England as part of the Coalition Government’s scheme to eradicate bovine TB. Meurig Raymond, Deputy President of the National Farmers’ Union said he was deeply frustrated. David Williams, chairman of the […]
The Badger Trust has formally stated its total opposition to culling badgers to control cattle tuberculosis and calls on two UK Governments to reconsider their proposed policies. The Coalition Government and the Welsh Assembly Government are to give their decisions in respect of England or Wales respectively during the early […]