21 Jul 2022
One of the authors of a paper that argued the controversial practice had no significant effect in reducing the disease says Defra is stuck in “a ridiculous scientific corner” on the issue.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Vets and academics have led a new call for a moratorium on badger culling to review its effectiveness in combating bTB.
Politicians, former senior civil servants and charity leaders are among more than 30 individuals to have signed an open letter demanding an independent assessment after a study published earlier this year concluded the policy had been ineffective.
But Defra is still insisting that analysis was “scientifically flawed”, despite subsequently admitting an error in its own rebuttal.
Supporters of the moratorium demand said it will enable analysis on both sides of the argument to be transparently reviewed.
The call follows the publication of peer-reviewed research in the journal Vet Record in March, which found no significant effect on bTB case levels in cull areas over the period, despite more than 175,000 badgers being culled since 2013.
The paper’s authors – Tom Langton, Mark Jones and Iain McGill – are among the signatories of the open letter to prime minister Boris Johnson and environment secretary George Eustice.
The letter said: “As we enter the 10th consecutive year of licensed badger culling without any conclusive evidence for its efficacy in controlling disease and unresolved humaneness concerns, we urge you to place an immediate moratorium on any further culling licences, pending a thorough, independent and transparent review of the policy.”
A Defra spokesperson said: “We have reviewed the paper published in Vet Record along with APHA scientists and found that the analysis was scientifically flawed, whereas national statistics are showing that our bovine TB eradication strategy is working as we are now seeing sustained reductions in this insidious disease.
“As a result of the progress made, we are now able to move on to the next phase of the long-term eradication strategy, including setting out steps to expand badger vaccination alongside improved cattle testing and a potential cattle vaccine.
“We have always been clear we don’t want to continue the current badger cull longer than absolutely necessary.”
But, after issuing its initial rebuttal of the paper’s findings, the department subsequently admitted that a graph issued as part of that response was wrong, though it insisted that did not affect its conclusions.
Paper co-author Mr Langton said: “Defra have painted themselves into a ridiculous scientific corner and now simply refuse to discuss it.
“This is the sign of a government that has lost its grip and cannot accept that its own data now shows badger culling to be a cruel and ineffective failure.”
Dr McGill added: “Our analysis was rigorously peer-reviewed and robust. Defra’s response was non peer-reviewed and based on the wrong data. If Defra are confident they are right, then they should have no issue with an independent review of all the available data.”
The signatories include Ranald Munro, who formally chaired the Independent Expert Panel on the pilot culls, and Alick Simmons, the former deputy CVO, as well as representatives of groups including the Badger Trust and Four Paws, primatologist Dame Jane Goodall and the broadcaster Chris Packham.
