Badger cull
Since the early 1970’s badgers have been blamed for spreading bovine tuberculosis (bTB), and dairy farmers have been asking for the right to kill badgers as a way to protect their animals from the disease.
The truth is that the disease is caused by the crowded, dirty conditions in which dairy cattle are kept, combined with the stress and poor health they suffer. In short it is the intensive way the animals are farmed not the badgers that cause the disease.
The government has run several studies, killing tens of thousands of badgers, to try and find out if reducing badger numbers will reduce the bovine TB. These studies have shown that killing badgers was very expensive and ineffective in preventing the spread of the disease.
Research has shown that movement of infected cattle around the country is the single most important factor in spreading bovine TB. Martin Hancox, zoologist and former member of the Badgers and Bovine TB Panel says: ‘TB is appearing in areas that have been TB-free for ten years, sometimes longer. The badgers were there all the time: are they supposed to have sat around for a decade and then one day decided to infect cows?‘
Instead of blaming badgers, farmers must recognise that modern intensive production methods are the real cause of much of disease in cattle and other farm animals.
In April 2008, the Welsh Assembly gave the go-ahead for a cull of badgers – a decision that flies in the face of scientific evidence and public opinion. Although the location and details have yet to be decided, it is expected that every badger within a designated area will be eradicated over a period of years.
Thankfully, in July 2008, the government announced that they would not be allowing a similar badger cull in England.
Help stop the cull of badgers in Wales
