Abandon the badger cull plans, scientists warn government

A group of 26 scientists have written to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him and his government to abandon further plans to cull badgers in England and Wales and instead focus on other measures to control the spread of the disease.

In the letter, the group said they were concerned that whilst Wales has nearly halved the number of cattle slaughtered due to bovine tuberculosis (bTB) over the last five years, there has been 'little change to the levels of the disease in England during this time.'

Wales has reduced the number of cattle slaughtered per annum from 11,671 in 2009 to 6,102 in 2013 and the decline is continuing. Similarly the number of new herd incidents in Wales since 2008/09 has reduced by approximately 36%.

By contrast, the letter said, the UK government and Defra have expanded considerable time and effort on the promotion of badger culling as a means of controlling the disease in England.

"From the information available so far it is not clear whether the forecast net reduction of 12-16% in new herd incidence of bTB over the next nine years will be achieved or how this will be measured.

"While Defra has been steadily increasing the areas under annual and pre-movement testing in the South West and West of England since 2009, these measures were only extended across all the counties in the High Risk and Edge Areas in 2013. It is important to note that in the West Region of England, which has been under annual and pre-movement testing since 2010/11, the number of cattle slaughtered due to bTB fell by 12% between 2012 and 2013 and this decline is continuing in 2014," the scientists said.

Under the testing regime there is no way of accurately knowing what the disease status of the so called Low Risk Area actually is and there is a high probability of onward transmission of undetected disease

"If we are to control bTB in England, as Wales is showing it is able to do, we consider that a fundamental change in emphasis and direction is needed.

The time, effort and resources directed at the badger cull should be re-directed into a) a TB Health Check for England to establish the true extent and distribution of the disease in our cattle herds; b) considerably more testing in the Low Risk Area with the implementation of nationwide annual testing and c) the introduction of mandatory pre-movement testing and risk-based trading across the whole country.

At the same time the livestock industry, NFU and farmers must be made aware that such cattle controls are essential if bTB control is to be achieved.

We therefore urge that no further badger culling takes place and that Defra now moves swiftly to implement an intensive cattle testing programme, as detailed above, across the whole of England. Only then will the UK begin to achieve the substantial reduction in bTB that we all wish to see. If it would be of any assistance to discuss these matters further representatives from the signatories would very much welcome the opportunity to do so."

'We will continue to use all the options available to fight TB'

Recently, Farming Minister George Eustice said the government would use all of the options available to fight the disease, 'which has been out of control for 20 years,' the Minister said.

Eustice came under fire from Labour MPs who claimed the recent pilot culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset had failed to achieve the minimum number of badgers to be shot and was condemned by many groups as a 'miserable failure.' It prompted the Badger Trust to challenge the legality of the cull.

A cull target of 615 badgers in Gloucestershire and 316 in Somerset was given, but no official indication was given as to how many were killed. Eustice said the government was analysing the data from the recent culls.

The Humane Society International claimed 253 badgers had been killed in Gloucestershire, 362 animals short of the minimum kill target of 615.