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Posted: 18th July 2024

Badger Trust calls for government to end badger cull
Badger culling was first introduced in England in 2013.
The Labour party’s manifesto pledged to end ‘ineffective’ cull.

Badger Trust has published an open letter to the UK government, offering to support the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) with ending the badger cull.

The letter, addressed to Defra’s new secretary of state Steve Reed, showed support for the pledge made in the Labour manifesto to ‘end the ineffective badger cull’.

However the charity also criticises comments it said the party made during its campaign, which suggested the cull would continue until January 2026 under existing licences. It says this would allow ‘ten of thousands’ more badgers to be culled.

Badger culling was first introduced in England in 2013 to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle.

Since then, Rishi Sunak’s government had ordered a further supplementary cull, which started on 1 June 2024 and will run until January 2025. There is also an intensive cull planned, from August 2024 until January 2025, and an ongoing consultation from Mr Sunak's government which calls for endless badger culls.

Badger Trust has referred to the cull as ‘the most significant attack on a native species in our lifetimes’.

Peter Hambly, chief executive of Badger Trust, said: “The Labour manifesto rightly called the badger cull ineffective. We agree, and now is the time to end it before any more badgers are killed.

“We want to work with this government to make this happen immediately.”  

Meanwhile, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) has urged that the Defra takes a science-led approach to bTB control.

BVA senior vice-president Malcolm Morley said: “We all want to see this devastating disease eradicated, however, any changes to the control methods of bovine TB must be underpinned by the latest scientific evidence.

“It is important that any new policy takes a holistic, targeted and science-led approach to bovine TB control that utilises all the available tools in the toolbox to control the disease in cattle.”

Defra has said that there is no single tool that can eradicate bTB, and it intends on working towards a package to create a bTB free status. This would include rolling out vaccinations, herd management and biosecurity, with the goal of ending the badger cull.

It says that more details on its approach will be set out in future, but it is keen to work with all stakeholders.

A Defra spokesperson said: “We recognise the devastating impact bovine TB has on the farming community which is why we are committed to working with farmers and scientists on measures to eradicate this disease.
 
“This government will roll out a TB eradication package including vaccination, herd management and biosecurity measures to achieve our objective of getting to bovine TB free status and end the badger cull.”

Image © Shutterstock



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