New campaign launches to end badger cull ‘stain’ on England

Campaigners opposed to the badger cull programme in England have condemned the policy as a “stain” on the country as they begin a fresh bid to halt it for good.

Badger Trust today (31 January) launched a new petition against the programme, which it claims has killed more than half of the badger population since 2013.

Defra maintains that the cull is a key part of its wider strategy to combat bTB and rejected similar calls from the charity as recently as this month.

Public backing

But the trust believes that public backing for the latest initiative can help to bring about a change of approach.

Executive director Peter Hambly said he hoped the public would show it wanted to “protect nature and the environment, and stop the destructive wiping out of a critical native species”.

He added: “A quarter of a million badgers killed – nearly all of them not even tested for bTB – is a stain on this country’s relationship with nature. The cull must end now.”

The launch of the petition coincides with the end of the latest cull season and comes only weeks after the trust published a report calling for the development of a single strategy against bTB across Britain.

Combat disease

In response, Defra insisted culling activity would continue for “as long as necessary” in England to help combat the disease.

However, culls are not currently carried out in either Wales or Scotland, where responsibility for bTB policy lies with the devolved administrations.

An executive summary of the trust’s report has been issued alongside the petition, which can be found on the Badger Trust website.