SCIENTISTS PASS DEATH SENTENCE ON CULL PLANS – ABANDON THEM NOW, SAYS THE BADGER TRUST

July 16, 2011

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 Scientific Group overseeing the trial, and the conclusions of a distinguished panel of scientists which met in April to advise Ministers.

The Government says its ideas will be ‘science-led’, but the Badger Trust says ‘guesswork-led’ would now be more accurate; the public and the farmers are being hoodwinked, patronised and ignored.

  • Free shooting [2] at night instead of cage trapping and shooting destroys the basis of Government forecasts (themselves grossly optimistic).
  • Free shooting would impose the massive task of informing and protecting the public in often scattered rural communities.
  • Recent revelations of wilful breaches of regulations have undermined the industry’s credibility. [3]
  • A threadbare, grossly underfunded Natural England would be faced with the enormous task of ensuring compliance over areas of at least eight miles by eight.

This is yet another public relations disaster for an error-prone Government whose half-truths are continuing to deceive the cattle industry into believing that culling would have a greater effect than the scientific panel decided in April – that any permanent benefit would be small and long delayed.

And bad faith abounds. For three months Ministers had sat on the far from supportive conclusions of the panel in April [1]. They have also persisted in keeping the results of the public consultation secret since it closed a shameful seven months ago. However, a BBC telephone poll on June 8 [4] showed 63 per cent against culling. In the seriously-affected south west of England, as in every other region, there was a majority opposed to culling [4].

NOTES

[1]: See http://www.badger.org.uk/Content/Home.asp: Badger cull credibility destroyed – says Trust (re letter to The Times, July 13); Top world authority [Lord Krebs] condemns badger cull (re letters to The Independent, July 12 and Guardian, July11);http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/tb/documents/bovinetb-scientificexperts-110404.pdf  Key conclusions from the meeting of scientific experts, April and http://www.badger.org.uk/content/News.asp Badger cull would be a reckless gamble –Badger Trust.

 

[2] Consultation document: archive.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/tb-control-measures/index.htm (para 99).

[3] badgertrust.org.uk (badger news: Fraud in cattle TB testing).

[4] www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13684482

Learn About Badgers!
A badger sett is a system of tunnels and nesting chambers lined with bedding such as grass, moss and leaves.
Cubs are normally born in February, and the average number in a litter is three, although the range can be from one to five.
Badgers are considered omnivorous, although their diet varies so much in different countries they are also sometimes termed ‘local specialists’.
Badgers live mainly in woods and copses in extensive underground burrow systems called setts.
Badgers are shy, nocturnal animals that live in underground chambers connected by a network of tunnels known as a sett.
Did You Know?
It has been estimated that up to 50,000 badgers may be killed on our roads each year. If safe to do so, it is worth checking what appears to be a dead badger.
Snares can do serious damage to skin tissue which is not immediately obvious.
Badger cubs begin to explore above ground in May, sometimes without mum’s permission!
Try not to cause the animal alarm, but observe from a distance.
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