Campaign
The coalition government has announced a public consultation on whether a badger cull should go ahead. The public has be.en given until Wednesday, 8 December to express their views.
The RSPCA remains firmly opposed to any plans for a widespread cull based on current science, welfare concerns and practicality. The government proposal says that the cull would need to involve the killing of badgers over an area of 150km² and, within the cull area at least 70 per cent of the badger population would need to be eradicated, including thousands of healthy animals.
The consultation proposes that farmers and landowners be given full responsibility for funding and carrying out culling and/or vaccination measures and we are concerned that this would make the welfare issues involved with killing badgers worse and would be near impossible to monitor.
Scientific evidence suggests that culling badgers in an area initially increases bTB infection in cattle in the surrounding areas, and achieves only a limited reduction within the area targeted. It concluded that, “badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain”.
We believe that the government should listen to public opinion (the previous consultation on a badger cull showed 95 per cent of respondents were opposed to a cull) and focus instead on the use of an approved TB vaccine for badgers along with other control methods
Costs of the Cull Defence
THE Assembly Government’s defence of its plans to cull badgers as part of a targeted pilot scheme to eradicate bovine TB in Wales cost more than £57,000.
A Freedom of Information request by BBC Wales showed the sum included £20,000 towards the costs of the Badger Trust, which mounted a successful legal challenge.
Three Court of Appeal judges said the legal order authorising the cull should have referred only to the proposed intensive action pilot area centred on northern Pembrokeshire, not to the whole of Wales. The external legal costs totalling £57,446.65 that the Assembly Government has to meet were revealed by the office of Chief Vet Dr Christianne Glossop.
An estimated 1,500 badgers would have been trapped under the proposal, which split the local community.
The farming unions, landowners and veterinary groups backed the cull, but the Badger Trust, the RSPCA, wildlife trusts and their supporters said that robust cattle
measures – already put in place by the Assembly Government, would be sufficient.
The Badger Trust claims any renewed attempt to set up a cull would be “pointless” as the cattle movement and biosecurity measures carried out as part of the bTB eradication programme are already reducing the incidence of the disease.
The trust claims that provisional figures from Defra show that half the number of cattle were slaughtered in the first four months of this year compared with the first quarter of 2009.
But an Assembly Government spokesman said the figures should be treated with caution and the long-term trend was historically upwards.
“It is too early to say yet whether the stricter cattle controls, increased testing and our zero-tolerance approach to non-compliance with regulations are making a difference,” he said.
The spokesman said several requests were made for the costs associated with the preparation of the cull Order and the subsequent legal proceedings after the Court of Appeal’s judgement. “The Assembly Government was not able to provide details of the costs at that time but now that the costs are available, they are being made public,” he said.
Steve Dube Western Mail
Badger trust to appeal against Judicial Review decision
Wednesday 5th May 2010
To: Directors, Affiliated Groups, Additional Contacts
Subject: Judicial Revaiew Judgment – Appeal
Dear Friends,
I am writing on behalf of the Board to say that we have given careful consideration to the Judgment received and have discussed this with our legal team and other parties closely involved with the Judicial Review. We have also taken note of the financial implications.
Our decision is that we shall ask for permission to appeal and will follow that process through as far as we are able. We can only appeal on legal points and not on factual matters. However, as an organisation we believe in the scientific argument relating to bovine TB and do not believe that the unnecessary killing of badgers will have a significant impact on its control, therefore we feel bound to re-open the debate on relevant legal matters. Our solicitors have been instructed accordingly.
We feel that as the charity dedicated to the conservation, welfare and protection of badgers we shall gain support from having the courage of our convictions. Public support is growing daily as more and more people become aware of the imminent slaughter in Wales. The cost of taking this action has been assessed and a number of people/organisations have indicated that they will do all they can to give financial help. Badger Trust itself also needs to continue to appeal for public donations but it is noticeable that the greater the publicity, the more new supporters and donations we attract. We hope to be able to manage the costs without asking our Groups for further donations. I know you will all support us in other ways and at the AGM all Directors present felt that if we had asked you then whether we should continue with the fight, you would have voted in favour.
We will keep you informed of progress as and when we are able to do so.
Best wishes,
Dave Williams.
Badger Trust is the only charity solely dedicated to the conservation of badgers across Great Britain.
PO Box 708, EAST GRINSTEAD, RH19 2WN
Tel: 08458 287878 Fax: 02380 233896
E-mail press@badgertrust.org.uk
Registered charity no.1111440
Company registered in the UK No.5460677
TV’s Iolo backs campaign against badger cull
Apr 14 2010 by Sally Williams, Western Mail
TV WILDLIFE presenter Iolo Williams has joined forces with the legendary Queen guitarist Brian May to oppose Wales’ proposed badger cull.
Williams, who has visited species under threat in many parts of the world, has joined May in supporting The Badger Trust charity, which is fighting to get the controversial TB Eradication Order (Wales) 2009 quashed.
The order opened the way for the Welsh Assembly Government to begin a mass cull of badgers in parts of West Wales as early as next month.
Mr Williams, who addressed a meeting of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales last night, said he was disgusted by WAG’s decision to cull.
“I feel for farmers whose core herd can be affected by TB and I know it can be a massive blow,” he said.
“But for WAG to agree a cull after a chief government scientist said it wouldn’t work is just ridiculous.
“Culls are nothing new. They have been going on, on and off, for 50 years. On one side of the argument people claim they work; on the other, people claim they don’t.
“But what people should have been working on 50 years ago was on research for finding an effective vaccine for cattle against TB. It is not just badgers that can carry TB, it is all sorts of wildlife.
“If there was proof that badgers alone spread TB to cattle, there would be a valid case for a cull. But there is no evidence of that.”
May has claimed the decision was based on bad science and said it would be “genocide”.
Dr Lizzie Wilberforce, conservation manager for the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, said: “We will continue to oppose this cull and urge the Government to pursue the alternative approach of vaccination and increased biosecurity.
“The Wildlife Trusts in Wales are cattle owners and managers and we absolutely understand the severity of the problem of bovine TB in this area of Wales and have a vested interest ourselves in finding a solution. But culling is simply not the answer.”
But Dr Christianne Glossop, chief veterinary officer for Wales, defended the proposed cull, saying TB in cattle had escalated to a level that threatened cattle farming across the country.