 |
| credit: Duncan Shaw/Getty Images |
For a nation described as the one that cares the most about animals according to Sir Richard Attenborough, its government is peculiarly callous. A confidential document publicized by the
Guardian says the noises made by shot badgers will be among the measures used to assess the humaneness of a pilot badger cull scheduled to take place from June 1st in parts of Glouchestershire and Somerset. Of course the document has enraged wildlife advocates. It is not clear how wounded badgers that escape underground to die can be assessed for humane extermination according to this criteria. DEFRA, the UK's environment ministry, defends its cull as being designed by "independent experts". The shootings will take place a night when free-roaming badgers are active by shooters required to pass a government training course. In a previous trial cull badgers were trapped in cages and then shot, but this method is relatively expensive. The document recognizes death of a wounded animal could be slow due to secondary infection and starvation. If the pilot culls are deemed successful, the cull will be extended nationwide in an attempt to curb the rising epidemic of tuberculosis in cattle. Thirty-seven thousand cattle were slaughtered in 2012.
Conservationists say killing badgers to prevent TB in cattle is ineffective likening it to killing rats during the Plague. A government veterinarian, John Bourne, led a ten year £50 million trial of badger culling. He reported in 2008 that killing badgers
could not make a meaningful contribution to curbing bovine TB. Bourne recognized that primarily cows infect other cows while infections from badgers are secondary. A cull of borrowing, nocturnal animals is difficult and usually results in spreading diseased animals further afield. Eleven thousand badgers were killed in the trial. Vaccination of cows and badgers has been promoted as a humane alternative, but government has rejected that suggestion as impractical. Nevertheless after national debate, Wales has chosen to follow the vaccination of badgers route at a cost £5 million and five years. England's National Trust also engaged in a vaccination trial on the Killerton Estate near Exeter. Field trials showed a 74% decrease in bovine TB in badgers. Another larger trial sponsored by the National Trust is underway in Devon at a cost of £320,000. An oral badger vaccine that can be inexpensively deployed with bait is expected to be available by 2015.
 |
| credit Raimund Linke/Getty Images |
The controversial cull has political overtones too. The influential Famers Union backs badger culls and the Tories. The pilot culls now scheduled to take place beginning June 1st were postponed once in October, and Prime Minister Cameron has made it clear to DEFRA minister Owen Paterson that another U-turn will not be permitted. The crux of the problem is the badger is a protected species in the UK and too much killing may reduce its numbers below acceptable levels insuring the species' survival. Inaccurate population counts stopped the earlier culls. The government estimates the badger population in Gloucestershire is from 2,657 to 4,079 with a 40% chance that actual numbers are outside the range. Gloucestershire farmers have been told to kill between 2,856 and 2,932 badgers, or potentially wiping out an entire population which is not permitted under Natural England's licensing rules. The same ambiguity surrounding the size of the cull exists in Sommerset. DEFRA's independent panel of experts have called for a repeat of October's badger counts. But DEFRA's chief science advisor, Prof. Ian Boyd said the status quo cannot continue because bovine TB is out of control in the UK. Wildlife activists have pledged to field "an army" of volunteers to disrupt the culls using noise makers and "torches" to frighten badgers so they leave the area. Pitch folks must be left at home, however.
