This
week, Liz Truss, the Conservative Environment Secretary, promised to continue
the existing badger cull in Somerset and Gloucestershire and then extend it
across England. Thousands more badgers would be shot if the Conservatives won
the general election, she said, as the Tories were committed to a 25-year
strategy.
I’ve
made no secret of my opposition to this cull. In 2011, I went to 10 Downing
Street with the Badger Protection League to hand in a large petition against
it. I believe that we have
responsibilities for animal welfare and obligations to treat animals, wild and
domestic, humanely.
I’ve
followed the evidence. The last report of the Independent Expert Panel (IEP)
said that the badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset had been both
ineffective and inhumane. It was no surprise that the Government stopped all
independent oversight and scrutiny of its policy.
As
Dominic Dyer, the chief executive of the Badger Trust, said: “The cull policy
should stop as it has clearly failed on scientific, humaneness and cost
grounds. The transmission rate of TB from badgers to cattle is less than 6 per
cent. The key route of infection is cattle-to-cattle transfer.” He noted that
the Welsh government strategy, which involves badger vaccination and controls
on cattle movements but no culling, had halved new herd infections in the past
five years.
On
this issue, the Conservatives, supported by the Liberal Democrats in
Parliament, have consistently put posturing before good policy, secrecy before
transparency, conflict before consensus, and prejudice before science. The
badger cull is both discredited and embarrassing.
What
is needed is continued work with farmers, wildlife groups and leading
scientists to take forward an alternative strategy to eradicate bovine
TB. This would include badger vaccination and enhanced cattle
bio-security measures.
Your
vote at the general election will actually decide the fate of local badgers.
Vote Conservative and the badger cull comes here, quickly followed by a return
of fox-hunting with the repeal of the Hunting Act. It’s a clear dividing line.
