New badger culls are a 'miserable failure' as target missed

The pilot badger culls in Gloucestershire have 'failed to achieve even the minimum number of badgers to be shot,' and have been condemned as a 'miserable failure.'

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.

The Badger Trust is challenging the legality of the culls, following a hearing on 11th September where the judge agreed that the Badger Trust had a real prospect of success in its appeal.

The Court of Appeal will be asked by the Badger Trust to find that the Secretary of State for the Environment, Elizabeth Truss, has unlawfully failed to put in place an Independent Expert Panel to monitor and analyse the results of the continued culling of badgers in Gloucestershire and Somerset in 2014.

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

In Somerset, shooters only achieved the minimum target of 315 badgers, even though the kill targets were deliberately set to be achievably low. The figures were revealed by a source at Natural England to Team Badger, of which HSI/UK is a key member.

Wendy Higgins, Communications Director for Humane Society International/UK said: “We are of course mightily relieved that the shooters failed to kill the target number of badgers in Gloucestershire and didn’t exceed the minimum in Somerset, but every animal who died in the cull is an innocent life wasted for a pointless, unscientific and immoral policy.

"For the second year in a row the badger cull has been a miserable failure, not simply because it’s proved ineffective but because it remains scientifically discredited and ethically unsupportable. It’s time for DEFRA and the NFU to face facts and be honest with both farmers and the public – shooting badgers has been a costly and humiliating distraction that needs to end now.

"Vaccination, improved farm biosecurity and stricter cattle movement measures are the only way to tackle bovine TB. The public knows it, scientists know it, more and more farmers are coming to realise it, it’s time for the government to kill the cull.”

TB devastating farming families

But the National Farmers' Union said farmers are losing their livestock to the disease and action needed to be taken.

NFU President Meurig Raymond said: “Bovine TB continues to devastate farming family businesses across large parts of the country and it is essential that we do everything we can to control and eradicate it. Last year more than 32,000 cattle were slaughtered because of this disease and more than 4,700 additional farming families saw their businesses affected by it.

“In areas where the disease is endemic, like the South West, action must be taken to control it in badgers if we are to stop reinfection occurring and have any chance of wiping it out. This has been acknowledged by the Government and is reflected in its 25-year TB eradication strategy.

“Both cull companies have worked closely with Defra and Natural England to ensure that the recommendations made by the Independent Expert Panel to improve the delivery of operations following last year’s culls have been implemented.

“The Chief Vet has said culling over a four-year period in both pilot areas will have an impact on disease control and we remain confident that these pilots will help to deliver a reduction of TB in cattle. It is vital that they are allowed to be successfully completed so they can deliver the maximum benefits.”

The government had been urged by charities to extend its limited Badger Edge Vaccination Funding Scheme as an alternative to culling.

The Chair of Natural England's Scientific Advisory Committee described the culls as an “epic failure”, and the vast majority of independent scientists agree that a cull can make no meaningful contribution to controlling TB in cattle.

"By contrast, badger vaccination using the injectable BCG vaccine is a viable alternative, and DEFRA is promoting public funding for vaccination projects in the 'edge' area bordering the region worst affected by bovine TB in England," the organisation said.