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PRESS RELEASE: Badger Trust condemns illegal demonstrations

Following a warning by the National Farmers’ Union to its members about possible direct action by activists protesting against badger culling, the Badger Trust re-emphasises that it absolutely will not condone illegal activity of any kind. However, it recognises that people have the right to demonstrate and voice their opinions in public and within the law. The Independent on Sunday reported on Sunday, November 20th that the head of the police unit dealing with domestic extremism [1] had warned of the "clear potential for harm to public safety" if protesters were to clash with farmers carrying out a cull.

David Williams, chairman of the Badger Trust, said: “Our attitude does not imply that we have softened our outright opposition to culling as currently proposed against scientific advice by the Coalition Government [2]. Killing badgers would, according to Government calculations, achieve at best only a small, temporary reduction in bTB [3]. We restate our absolute opposition to illegal action, whether it comes from farmers [4] or from people opposed to the cull.

“This pointless debate about killing badgers is distracting attention from the massive reservoir of bovine TB in the national cattle herds of England and Wales, poor quality TB testing of cattle and the appalling slaughter of ten times as many animals with other diseases [5]. These include mastitis, lameness, and infertility”.

Jack Reedy
BADGER TRUST

NOTES:

[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/police-we-wont-be-able-to-cope-with-badger-cull-protests-6265124.html

[2] Lord Krebs, the architect of the 10-year Randomised Badger Culling Trial: "To me the story is pretty straightforward. If you’ve got a measure that affects 15 percent of the problem, then you don’t focus on that. You focus on something else." (Independent, July 12th 2011). “A better option would be to try to develop a vaccine in the long term, and in the short term to use better biosecurity measures to prevent cattle from coming into contact with badgers and other sources of the disease, and to prevent them passing it to each other." Guardian July 11th 2011.

[3] http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/tb/documents/bovinetb-scientificexperts-110404.pdf (Para 5).

[4] Farmer sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment suspended for 18 months, placed on supervision for a year and ordered to pay £28,900 costs, Badger Trust news, July 1st; BBC Radio 4 Programme "The Report" (item on illegal gassing), August 4th 2011 8.00 p.m.; Cattle movement offences cost rogue trader £12,170, Badger Trust news, November 4th.

[5] Total number of milking dairy cows of more than two years estimated to have been culled prematurely in GB in 2007, was 301,096 based on data from The Kite Health and Culling Monitor (published 2008) applied to the whole UK milking herd for diseases other than bTB.

 

 

 

 

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