Still waiting for debate on an unnecessary cull

FOLLOWING on from my colleague David Duckett’s letter about the government’s first year of badger culling in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire (“Badger cull rethink has a sting in the tail”, Mailbox, February 5), the campaign group Wild Justice announced that their petition to immediately stop the badger cull had surpassed 100,000 signatures.

Government e-petitions are considered for parliamentary debate if they reach this threshold, and at the time of writing this, we are all still waiting for a debate date.

Within Leicestershire and Rutland, 1,742 individuals have signed the petition to stop this unjust and unnecessary killing of our wildlife, and of those individuals, the highest proportion on a constituency level actually comes from the Rutland and Melton constituency, which is where this cull is taking place (north of Melton, spilling into Nottinghamshire within the Vale of Belvoir).

This demonstrates that concern around this cull is not a so-called “townie” campaign, and that very real dismay exists among communities with this cull on their doorstep.

Another nearby example of this is the Derbyshire Dales constituency where many caring people have also signed this petition.

When we know more about the potential government debate taking place, we will do our best to promote and highlight it in advance.

You can learn more about our group at: badgergroup.org.uk Jack Riggall, Leicestershire & Rutland Badger Group Committee