Friday, April 07, 2023
The damaging impact of Tory Ministers' misjudged massacre
The Mirror reports that figures, quietly slipped out while MPs are away from Westminster, have revealed that the badger cull death toll has passed 200,000, laying bare the extent of the decade-long killing programme aimed at curbing bovine tuberculosis.
They add that a report by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs revealed 33,627 of the creatures were slaughtered last year:
Added to the 174,517 killed since 2013 under efforts to curb the spread of tuberculosis in cattle, it takes the total number of badgers culled in the decade-long programme to 208,144.
Badger Trust executive director Peter Hambly said: “Badger setts across England are lying empty for the first time in history.
“One of our most iconic native wild animals is being wiped from parts of our natural landscape because of the badger cull.
“In just a decade, half of our population of badgers has been killed.”
This misjudged massacre of a protected species is continuing in England despite the fact that scientific research has repeatedly proven that badger culling doesn’t work. Instead, Defra need to concentrate on more effective disease-control methods that will make a lasting difference to English farmers - enhanced biosecurity such as restricting cattle movements, more effective cattle testing and cattle vaccination.
As I blogged back in 2008, when Wales' Plaid Cymru Rural Affairs Minister sought to initiate a cull here, the Independent Scientific Group in England carried out a ten year study, which included trials of badger culling.
They add that a report by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs revealed 33,627 of the creatures were slaughtered last year:
Added to the 174,517 killed since 2013 under efforts to curb the spread of tuberculosis in cattle, it takes the total number of badgers culled in the decade-long programme to 208,144.
Badger Trust executive director Peter Hambly said: “Badger setts across England are lying empty for the first time in history.
“One of our most iconic native wild animals is being wiped from parts of our natural landscape because of the badger cull.
“In just a decade, half of our population of badgers has been killed.”
This misjudged massacre of a protected species is continuing in England despite the fact that scientific research has repeatedly proven that badger culling doesn’t work. Instead, Defra need to concentrate on more effective disease-control methods that will make a lasting difference to English farmers - enhanced biosecurity such as restricting cattle movements, more effective cattle testing and cattle vaccination.
As I blogged back in 2008, when Wales' Plaid Cymru Rural Affairs Minister sought to initiate a cull here, the Independent Scientific Group in England carried out a ten year study, which included trials of badger culling.
They concluded that culling could make no meaningful contribution to bovine TB control. Their research has been published in international, peer-reviewed journals and the authors analysed in detail, every possible culling option before reaching their conclusion.
These latest figures indicate that the UK Government is not so much focussed on a cull, but a total extermination of badgers. They need to be stopped.
These latest figures indicate that the UK Government is not so much focussed on a cull, but a total extermination of badgers. They need to be stopped.
