3 Sept 2024
Campaigners are demanding an immediate end to the badger cull programme, while vets’ and farmers’ groups insist activity should still have a role in Government’s new strategy on the disease.
Allister Webb
Job Title
UK CVO Christine Middlemiss.
The UK’s chief vet has warned the fight against bTB in England is now at “a crucial point”, amid substantial criticism of Defra’s new plan to tackle the disease.
Protesters are gathering in London today (3 September) to demand an immediate halt to badger culling, instead of the department’s pledge to end the programme by the end of this Parliament.
Meanwhile, farmers’ leaders and a senior cattle vet have urged officials not to overlook the contribution they maintain culling has made to reducing disease levels.
But UK CVO Christine Middlemiss insisted the new strategy would be “led by the very best scientific and epidemiological evidence” as she called for a united front against the disease.
She said: “With the disease on a downward trajectory, we are at a crucial point.
“Working in collaboration with Government and stakeholders will be the only way we achieve our target to eradicate bovine tuberculosis in England by 2038.”
The new strategy, announced on 30 August, includes plans for the first badger population survey in more than a decade and a new surveillance programme to assess disease levels in the remaining badger population.
Other measures include the establishment of a Badger Vaccinator Field Force, together with studies of badger vaccinations’ impact on disease levels and accelerated work towards the development of a cattle vaccine.
But although the department has pledged the strategy will be “co-designed with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists”, there has been limited support for the new approach so far, amid the enduring scientific dispute about the cull’s impact.
The BCVA said it recognised that bTB policy was due for a review after 10 years and welcomed the department’s commitment on collaboration.
TB working group lead Lara Robinson, speaking on behalf of the association’s board, said: “While BCVA is disappointed that future evidence-based badger culling will be stopped, we are pleased that current cull licences will be allowed to continue while the new measures are put into practice.”
NFU president Tom Bradshaw also warned ministers “they must not overlook the contribution of the tried, tested and successful disease control model”.
But Badger Trust leaders, who are leading today’s demonstration in Westminster, said the Government had “lost the plot” and warned further culling would be “an indelible stain” on the new Labour administration.
Mark Jones, a vet and head of policy for the Born Free Foundation, argued that the experience of Wales, where culling does not take place, and a recent BBC documentary featuring Queen guitarist and campaigner Brian May showed the importance of focusing on cattle-based activity, rather than badgers.
He added: “One more badger killed in the name of this unscientific, ineffective, inhumane and unnecessary policy is one too many.”
