High street coffee chain Caffe Nero has stopped serving milk from farms in Gloucestershire and Somerset because of the government's decision to continue the badger cull this autumn.
Animal rights activists have recently warned retailers they will carry out protests if milk used from farms operating a cull was bought and sold to customers.
But farming unions remain resolute that a cull must go ahead. The government must 'hold their nerve' and deliver on the strategy for tackling bovine TB, CLA President Henry Robinson told an audience recently at the Devon County Show.
The National Farmers’ Union said: “It is very disappointing to hear that Caffe Nero has taken this step.
“This is a Government policy, based on scientific evidence, aimed at controlling bovine TB – a disease which is a huge threat to dairy and beef farmers in the South West and other parts of the country and which resulted in nearly 33,000 cattle being slaughtered last year."
Anti-cull spokesman Jay Tiernan told the Mail: "We don’t know if it was the shame of being associated with an officially cruel cull or the threat of angry protesters storming their cafes in Central London in the upcoming June austerity marches.
"We now have the campaign’s first major victory against retailers who sell badger cull milk.
"We are now preparing ourselves to switch target on June 20 to Sainsbury’s, which still purchases milk from badger killers."
Badger culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire will be completed using both controlled shooting and cage trapping and shooting according to Defra Minister George Eustice.
But British Veterinary Association President John Blackwell said he was disappointed that the government has taken the decision to continue using controlled shooting given the first two years of culling had 'failed'.
“The Government’s rationale for the continued use of controlled shooting is based on a comparison with the control of other wildlife, but these are not the parameters that the Government set itself at the start of the pilots. Instead – at the behest of BVA and others – the Government asked an independent group of experts to oversee the pilots and the Independent Expert Panel set out criteria which were used to assess humaneness.
“BVA remains fully in support of a comprehensive strategy to tackle bovine TB, including the use of targeted, humane badger culling alongside a range of other measures. However, culling should only be carried out using the tried and tested method of cage trapping and shooting.
“It is difficult to argue that the use of controlled shooting for badger culling is ethical when another more humane and effective method is available. We therefore continue to urge Defra to complete the pilots using cage trapping and shooting only and to roll out badger culling to other areas using this method.”
On the comments by BVA’s specialist divisions in support of the continued use of controlled shooting, Mr Blackwell added: “The BVA’s decision to withdraw our support for the use of controlled shooting as part of the badger culling policy was taken by our Council following consultation with our expert committees, our specialist divisions and our wider membership. We recognise that, like the general population, our members hold a wide range of views and for some our position doesn’t go far enough, while for others it goes too far.
“BVA called for an independent expert panel (IEP) to assess the use of controlled shooting and called on Defra to implement the IEP’s recommendations in full. When the second year of culling failed to demonstrate conclusively that controlled shooting could be carried out effectively and humanely based on the criteria set by the IEP, the only credible option for BVA was to withdraw support for controlled shooting in light of the evidence.
“Our position is therefore wholly appropriate and consistent with our previous statements on badger culling, taking into account the available evidence and the wide range of views expressed by our members.”
