Say No to the badger cull!

WHY WE OPPOSE THE BADGER CULL

It is inhumane

Shooting of free-running badgers will cause substantial injuries and suffering, leaving many cubs to starve to death. The RSPCA and other animal welfare organisations are warning of a welfare disaster.

It won't work

A long-term study by top scientists has already established that badger culling "CAN MAKE NO MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTION TO THE CONTROL OF TB IN CATTLE IN THE UK." The Government's own key advisor Lord Krebs has stated publicly that a cull "would be a mistake".
The study showed that 5 out of 6 of badgers culled were not infected. No data on the level of infection has been collected since.
Culling can actually make matters worse, as infected badgers fleeing from the shooting take the disease with them and spread it to other areas.
According to Lord Krebs, culling would only reduce the level of TB in cattle by around 12 - 16 per cent. Although badgers (and other wildlife) do carry TB and pass it on to cows, cattle-to-cattle transmission is a far more significant factor.

According to opinion polls, the vast majority of the public - in both urban and rural regions - are against a cull. Bovine TB is a serious problem, but the cruel and indiscriminate slaughter of our much-loved native animals merely to appease the farming lobby is not the answer.

WHAT WE ARE CALLING FOR INSTEAD

In the short term:

A badger vaccination programme. Experts - including many farmers - agree that this is the best way forward. Substantial public funds have already been invested in a vaccine, and Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and the National Trust - on its Killerton estate here in Devon - are leading the way with pilot vaccination projects conducted at their own expense.

More generally:

Properly enforced hygiene measures, accurate testing procedures and stricter controls on cattle movements.
Investment in higher welfare standards. Stocking densities and milk yields have increased dramatically over the last 30 years. Intensive farming puts dairy cows under enormous stress, leaving them susceptible to disease.

Please add your voice to ours by downloading and signing our petition against the cull. Please also ask others to sign it!

The Badger

In homage to William Blake, a compassionate man who would have strongly opposed a badger cull - and his magnificent poem 'The Tiger'.

Badger, badger blazing white
In the woodlands of the night,
What indifferent hand or eye
Would take your precious liberty?

In what pseudo-science lies
'Proof' that all your kind should die
On what grounds dare they acquire
The 'right' to slay you in your byre?

Wiping out your ancient part
In our landscape, like the hart
Blaming you for some great feat
The rise of TB. How they cheat!

Now see the politicians feign,
Twist statistics, smear your name
Hoodwink farmers, make them gasp
The blatant truth, they rasp and rasp

Intensive farming through the years
Sick animals, worn down by fears
Did He who made us want to see?
You trapped and shot at for a fee?

Badger, badger, blazing white
In the woodlands of the night
What trigger-happy hand or eye
Dare take your sacred liberty?

WHY WE OPPOSE THE BADGER CULL

WHAT WE ARE CALLING FOR INSTEAD

Download our leaflet & petition form