Badger cull zones set to be extended
BADGER cull campaigners fear that the government is about to issue licences for up to ten new cull zones in England.
And they have seized on reports that in one cull area the number of cases of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) has gone up, reversing an earlier decline.
The culls began in 2012, in a bid to halt the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB), which last year alone required the slaughter of nearly 33,000 cattle,
bringing heartache to farming families across the region.
So far some 40,000 badgers have been killed in the South West. Defra, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, yesterday refused to confirm or deny that licences to kill another 50,000 badgers would be issued this week.
But campaigners said new research based on official data showed that confirmed incidents of bTB in the Gloucestershire culling pilot zone rose by 130% in 2018 compared with the previous year.
Defra said a 2017 report on Gloucestershire had shown a 58% reduction in the disease in cattle. The latest analysis, led by former government scientist Iain McGill, which has more recent data, is expected to be published in a scientific journal in the near future.
A Defra spokesperson said: “There is no single measure that will provide an easy answer to beating the disease. That is why we are pursuing a range of interventions to eradicate the disease by 2038, including tighter cattle movement controls, regular testing and vaccinations.”
The NFU said: “Last year nearly 33,000 cattle were slaughtered in England because of this terrible disease.”
THE government is coming under increasing pressure to scrap the badger cull, amid evidence that bovine tuberculosis (bTB) has actually increased in one cull area.
Natural England is expected to issue licences for up to 50,000 animals to be killed in this year’s cull.
And one expert group has claimed that thousands of animals may be dying in “immense pain”.
The culls began in 2012, in a bid to halt the spread of bTB, which has
resulted in tens of thousands of cattle being destroyed.
However, according to the Observer, new research based on official data shows that confirmed incidents of bTB in the Gloucestershire culling pilot zone rose by 130% in 2018 compared with the previous year.
The report has been produced by a group of vets and academics including by the former government scientist Iain McGill.
Meanwhile, a former government adviser, Prof Ranald Munro, has written to Natural England to say that the culls are causing “huge suffering”, with up 23% of badgers taking more than five minutes to die after they were shot and likely to have suffered “immense pain”.
A potential licence for a new cull zone in Derbyshire was withdrawn last Friday, raising hopes of a moratorium. Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Badger Trust, said Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, was surrounded by family members who are animal welfare campaigners.
Carrie Symonds, his girlfriend, is a patron of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation. His father, Stanley, has written books on environmental issues and in 1983 received the RSPCA Richard Martin Award for Outstanding Services to animal welfare.
“The idea of culling 50,000 badgers as you go into a general election campaign isn’t a good look,” Mr Dyer said.
A spokesman for the National Farmers’ Union, which supports the cull as part of a range of eradication measures, said: “Bovine TB continues to devastate family farming businesses across large parts of the country. Last year, nearly 33,000 cattle were slaughtered in England because of this terrible disease and more than 3,600 farms that had previously been clear were affected by it.”
But Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said: “Farmers are deeply affected by bovine TB but we need effective and scientifically grounded policy to deal with this terrible disease.
“Greens believe we need tighter controls on cattle movement, strict biosecurity measures and the roll out of a vaccination programme for both badgers and cows.”