Government delays badger cull until next year

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson told MPs that the National Farmers’ Union, which has been one of the most vocal supporters of culling Britain’s wild badgers in an effort to stem the spread of bovine tuberculosis, wrote to him asking for a postponement until next summer.

Last week it emerged there were many more badgers in the two areas in the south west of England licensed for pilot culls than previously estimated, with about 3,600 of the animals in the west Gloucestershire area and 4,300 in west Somerset.

Mr Paterson said: “Despite a greatly increased effort over the last few days and weeks, the farmers delivering this policy have concluded that they cannot be confident that it will be possible to remove enough badgers based on these higher numbers and considering the lateness of the season.

“It would be wrong to go ahead if those on the ground cannot be confident of removing at least 70 per cent of the populations.”

He added: “Having looked at all the evidence over many years, I am utterly convinced that badger control is the right thing to do, and indeed the higher than expected badger numbers only serve to underline the need for urgent action.

I remain fully committed to working with the farming industry to ensure that the pilot culls can be delivered effectively, safely and humanely next summer. Owen Paterson

“I remain fully committed to working with the farming industry to ensure that the pilot culls can be delivered effectively, safely and humanely next summer.”

Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh accused the government of another U-turn, saying Mr Paterson had been “yanked back” from a European trip by the prime minister “who told him it was game over” for the cull.

The announcement of the cull earlier this month provoked fierce debate about the science and ethics of destroying badgers.

Like other wild animals, badgers carry the bovine TB bacteria but it is still not clear how the disease is transmitted to cattle.

Opponents of the cull point to a decade-long trial which concluded that attempts to destroy large numbers of badgers would not be cost-effective. But many vets and farmers have called for action to head off the threat of a full-scale epidemic in Britain’s herds.

Read More: FactCheck - Badger shame for Defra?

British Veterinary Association (BVA) President Peter Jones said: “Although vets and farmers in the bovine TB endemic areas will be frustrated by the delay in implementing the pilot badger culls, we are relieved that Defra has firmly stated that there has been no change in government policy.

“The science has not changed. Scientists agree that culling badgers does reduce the levels of infection in cattle herds, and we know that no country has dealt with bovine TB without tackling the disease in wildlife.”

Professor Christl Donnelly, of Imperial College London, one of the scientists involved in the original culling trials, said: “The badger cull is being delayed in part because it has been discovered that there are more badgers in the cull areas than had been planned for. Scientists do not have a validated model to predict how a higher badger density would change the risks to cattle.”

The randomised badger culling trial found that killing 70 per cent of badgers in an area stretching over 150 square kilometres over a four-year period reduced the number of herds with TB outbreaks in the area.

But it increased infection in the bordering areas as culling causes badgers, which can pass the disease to cattle, to move around more and spread TB. Overall, culling produced a 12 per cent to 16 per cent reduction in bovine TB over a decade.

Killing badgers will not solve the farmers’ problems; not now, not in the spring, not ever. Brian May

Former Queen guitarist and anti-cull campaigner Brian May said: “Let’s be very clear: this is a scientifically flawed, ethically reprehensible, economically unjustifiable and reckless policy that needs to be abandoned, once and for all.

“Killing badgers will not solve the farmers’ problems; not now, not in the spring, not ever,” he said.

A protest by the League Against Cruel Sports will go ahead on Wednesday, while a parliamentary debate on the issue will take place on Thursday.