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Badger Trust responds to the Coalition Government's consultation on killing badgers

BADGER TRUST
23 September 2011
SHAMEFUL DISREGARD OF PUBLIC OPINION AND A SOP TO FARMERS

The Badger Trust says the Coalition Government has shown a shameful disregard for public opinion and independently-evaluated science in its consultation document [1] on killing badgers. The Trust’s formal response [2] describes the policy as “patently a political sop to the powerful farming industry”.

The Badger Trust is one of the comparatively few non-farming or shooting stakeholders [3] invited to respond to the Government’s consultation on “culling”, which closed on September 20.

1. 1. We welcome the additional cattle-based control measures contained in Defra’s “Bovine TB Eradication Programme for England” [1], but they fall well short of what is required. The Independent Scientific Group overseeing the £50 million “Krebs Trial” stated [4]: “We further conclude from the scientific evidence available, that the rigorous application of heightened control measures directly targeting cattle will reverse the year-on-year increase in the incidence of cattle TB and halt the geographical spread of the disease.” In the Intensive Action Area of West Wales where there has been rigorous application and enforcement of cattle control measures, the number of cattle slaughtered due to bovine TB has been reduced by 44% in 2010 compared to 2009 [5] without a single badger being “culled”. The conclusion that this is in large part directly due to the Welsh Assembly’s new measures is highly persuasive and therefore we urge Defra to reconsider its proposed policy of licensing farmers to kill badgers.

3. 2. Critically, the proposals will not satisfy the statutory test permitting culling by licence under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. Killing of badgers as envisaged in this consultation could not possibly meet the strict statutory test for granting of licences under section 10(2)(a) ”for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease”. Indeed, the consultation appears to accept as much by frequent references to risks of a net increase in the disease if the multitude of variables are not correctly in place, and the fact that it is considering, first, two pilots to see whether the plans might prove effective or humane.

Other points include:

3. 3. The Badger Trust remains, in the light of the available scientific evidence, totally opposed to any badger cull, including the two proposed pilot trials of “controlled shooting”, as are the great majority of people responding to various opinion polls. The previous consultation in 2010 showed that nearly 70% of the consultees opposed a badger cull [6], a similar percentage was opposed to a badger cull in a randomised BBC poll [7], and just over 90% in a Guardian newspaper poll were also opposed [8]. Also eminent scientists and wildlife experts including Lord Krebs [9], Professor Bourne and his Independent Scientific Group (ISG) team [10], Sir David Attenborough [11] , Bill Oddie [12] and Chris Packham [13] have all opposed the proposed cull on scientific grounds because it will not deliver a meaningful reduction in bovine TB

5. 4. Killing badgers could not deliver a meaningful reduction in bovine TB [4] and might make it worse. Therefore the Badger Trust urges Defra to reconsider its proposed policy of licensing farmers to cull badgers.

5. 5. The Defra proposals, particularly the pilot trials of “controlled shooting”, are based not on science reviewed by independent and eminent authorities but on a number of unjustified, speculative assumptions. Defra’s own wildlife advisory agency, Natural England, identified as a primary regulatory and monitoring organisation in the Defra proposal, has publicly stated that it has little confidence in the proposals [14].

Defra should improve methods of detecting TB in cattle and pre-movement testing; it should introduce post-movement testing and prompt removal of TB-infected cattle, and enforce better farm husbandry and bio-security. It should also detect and prosecute those who flagrantly breach the rules.

7. 6. We urge Defra to consider a badger control policy based on vaccination. A small number of Badger Trust members have recently qualified as lay vaccinators and the Trust is negotiating with several landowners, including farmers, to carry out vaccination of badgers. Badger Trust also urges Defra to persuade the European Commission and the Member States to amend legislation to allow vaccination of cattle.

A VACCINATION POLICY IS THE ONLY LONG-TERM SOLUTION

Jack Reedy

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NOTES

[11] http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2011/07/19/pb13601-bovine-tb-eradication-programme/ (scroll to downloads and click on “Bovine TB Eradication Programme for England”).

[ 2] http://www.badgertrust.org.uk/_Attachments/Resources/589_S4.pdf

[ 3] Only listed stakeholders were invited to comment, but more were associated with the agricultural and shooting industries than the protection of wildlife; bias will result, particularly because such key organisations as the Mammal Society and League Against Cruel Sports have been omitted. This clearly creates further bias in favour of culling.

[ 4] Bourne, J. et al: Bovine TB: the scientific evidence, paragraph 10.93(Defra, London 2007), http://www.defra.gov.uk and search for “ISG Report”.

[ 5] Pembrokeshire Against the Cull, Newsletter, 20 April 2011 – based on information provided by the Welsh Assembly Government in response to a Freedom of Information

request from an Intensive Action Area resident.

[ 6] http://www.defra.gov.uk/animal-diseases/a-z/bovine-tb/ - scroll to badgers and bovine tb, click on “consultation document and summary of responses

[ 7] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13684482.

[ 8] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/poll/2011/jul/20/badger-cull-justified.

[9] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/11/badger-culling-ineffective-krebs .

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8630669/Badger-cull-a-mistake-suggests-Government-adviser.html.

[10] The Times (Letters) 13th July 2011.

[11] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/8635226/Sir-David-Attenborough-says-badger-cull-could-make-situation-worse.html.

[12] http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/majority-objected-to-badger-cull-before-policy-was-approved-2327913.html.

[13] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8618852/Chris-Packham-urges-protest-against-badger-cull.html.

[14] http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/images/1112019badgercontrol_tcm6-27539.pdf.