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More: Inevitably, a corrupt government faced with an embarrassing policy gone terribly wrong resorts to even more
outrageous conduct in an attempt to set the matter right. So it is with England's
misdirected badger cull. In the face of public and
expert demands that the culls
be stopped immediately, the Tory government "double downs" by extending the cull periods. To turn an unscientific disaster into a plausible claim for success, the government resorts to drastically reducing the estimate of the badger population in the kill zones. What was a inhumane operation to begin with has become even more
monstrous. The English public have made twenty seven reports of illegal shooting, poisoning and gassing of badgers in Gloucestershire, one of the
target counties. The UK's leading badger experts say that population declines of up two thirds because of natural variation would be unprecedented. Humane organizations are concerned that DEFRA's "green light" for killing badgers has increased the continuing problem of illegal baiting, snaring and gassing. Accurate population estimates are essential in setting cull levels in hopes of reducing the incidence of bovine TB currently spreading throughout the country. Not killing enough badgers increases the likelihood that TB will be spread further afield by badgers that escape death. Both culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire have failed to meet initial kill quotas; the Gloucestershire cull only reached a 30% kill in the period originally set. Somerset's cull has been extended three weeks and Gloucestershire authorities have been granted an eight week extension. However, the Badger Trust launched a legal challenge on Saturday seeking an injunction against extending the Gloucestershire cull. A director of the Trust said the resort to legal action is to protect the badger from exterpation but also an attempt to thwart the government's "return to the Middle Ages" because of its "feudal attitude towards wildlife and "an unbelievable lack of transparency". England's largest landowner, The National Trust has written to the environment secretary questioning the scientific basis for the culls. The Trust's preferred approach to the TB problem is vaccination and it has experimented with badger vaccination on its Killerton Estate in Devon.
Latest: {16.10.13}The failed Somerset badger cull is to be extended because the cull has not killed enough badgers to be effective in curtailing bovine tuberculosis infections. The government's own 10 year trial showed that inadequate culls cause a 25% increase in bovine TB in affected areas due to badger perturbation. So far, the cull has cost an estimated £1000 per badger including policing costs, more expensive than what it would cost to vaccinate badgers. East Sussex may be next on the government's badger hit list, but farmers there will have the option of vaccinating badgers living on their farms thanks to a private project to train volunteers at the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) in Glouscestershire. The first volunteers were put through a four day course in which they learned about bovine TB and the procedures for vaccinating badgers successfully. Vaccinating badgers requires the setting of live traps, but studies show badger vaccination lowers TB rates by 74%. The AHVLA is working on an oral badger vaccine to make the task easier and less expensive. The Sussex vaccination project plans to contact landowners and tenants in East Sussex to inform them of a humane alternative to killing badgers.
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{7.10.13}The Tory government's controversial badger cull is a failure. Fewer than half the number of badgers considered necessary to control bovine TB have been killed. The Somerset trial is set to end on Tuesday and the Gloucestershire cull will end next week. About 750-800 badgers were killed in Somerset, but officials resorted to using traps. Shooting free roaming badgers at night as planned "would have been a total disaster" according to one former official associated with the cull. Of course one of the knocks against vaccination of badgers instead of shooting them was the higher cost of trapping. Also, the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, was warned in advance by wildlife experts that attempting to shoot badgers would only perturb populations, potentially increasing the spread of the bovine disease. A badger expert at the Zoological Society of London told the
UK Guardian that a cull of only 800 badgers in Somerset "would be in the region where I would expect cattle TB incidence to be elevated rather than reduced by culling". Another source said, "this [the cull] is a spectacular own goal."
Most bovine TB is spread not from wild animals but from other cows which is the result of improper livestock handling. The most recent European Commission inspection of England's biosecurity found a catalogue full of fails including poor disinfection of farm, vehicle, market and slaughterhouse facilities. In contrast to England's
traditional muddle, Wales opted to begin vaccination of badgers. EU regulations prohibit the vaccination of cows. 28,000 English cows were killed in 2012 to curb the rise of bovine TB at a public cost £100 million. Clearly, the disease is a major problem in England, but equally clearly, a political decision to kill badgers is not the answer.
