The British government gave the go-ahead for a badger cull over year ago, but the killing was delayed by the Olympic Games according to officials. Now it appears badgers in the two target areas of Gloucestershire and Somerset will be safe for the rest of this year at least. Planners have realized that it would be impossible to achieve the 70% kill rate for the cull to be considered successful. New estimates of badger populations indicate 5,530 badgers would have to be killed within six weeks. Farmer organizations have asked the government to postpone the cull until the summer of 2013. Conservationists have taken the opportunity to step up their bovine TB vaccination programs. The results so far indicate vaccination is a viable alternative to culling. The head of the RSPCA said the postponement should not be a temporary reprieve since "a cull is no answer to bovine TB."
