27th January 2012: Join new RSPCA campaign "Set Back For Badgers"

A letter from the RSPCA:

Dear Supporter,

Thank you to everyone who contacted their MPs asking them to urge the government in Westminster to rethink plans for a badger cull. Sadly, as I’m sure many of you will have heard, a badger cull has been announced in England and will go ahead in two pilot areas initially. It’s dreadful news that could cause suffering to many badgers.

These beautiful animals are now in serious danger, widespread culling could see populations decline by more than 70 per cent in some areas.

We will continue to campaign for badgers on a local level, but we'll need your help. The first pilot cull will take place in the district of west Somerset and partly in Taunton Deane. The second is mainly within the Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury, and partly in the districts of Wychavon, Malvern Hills and west Gloucestershire. If you live in the surrounding areas and would like to help, please contact campaigns@rspca.org.uk

You can also show your support for our black and white furry friends by sharing your badger pictures with us in our new Flickr group: Set Back for Badgers.

Many thanks for your support,

RSPCA Campaign Team

14th December 2011: Badger Trust ‘very disappointed’ over cull decision

The Badger Trust has been advised by Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Environment, that she has decided to proceed with the two pilot culls to determine the efficacy and humaneness of the free-shooting of badgers. Her statement was expected on 15th December but was made after Prime Minister's Question Time today, Wednesday 14th December 2011. We have also been made aware that Guidance Notes will be issued to Natural England tomorrow.

David Williams, Chairman of the Badger Trust said: "We are clearly very disappointed by this decision but now that it has been made, we will be studying it with our legal advisors to determine what action we shall take."

15th November 2011: NFU and Badger Trust work on joint TB vaccination project

The NFU and the Badger Trust have agreed to work together on an initial project to vaccinate badgers on two farms owned by members of the NFU.

NFU chief farm policy adviser John Royle and Badger Trust Director Simon Boulter have agreed a joint project in which the badgers on two farms owned by NFU members will be vaccinated. In addition, the Badger Trust has identified five other landowners around the UK wishing to vaccinate badgers and is working independently with them as part of the initial trial project.

Vaccination on all seven farms started in October after surveys were carried out to identify active badger setts and licences have been granted by Natural England. The vaccination project will run until the end of November 2011 and resume in May 2012.

It is hoped that the two programmes, although small in scale, will help to identify whether the injectable vaccination of badgers is practical and cost effective. The NFU and the Badger Trust will continue to encourage research and development into an orally-delivered badger vaccine.

Speaking for the NFU, chief farm policy adviser, John Royle said: “We are pleased that the NFU and the Badger Trust have successfully liaised to facilitate this joint project, sharing equipment and resources as necessary, despite having differing views on the degree to which badgers are implicated in the transmission of bovine Tuberculosis.”

Simon Boulter, speaking for the Badger Trust, said: “We hope that with the use of volunteers to help with the work of surveying, trap-setting and pre-baiting, we can successfully implement an effective badger vaccination programme.”

19th September 2011: Please vote on 38 Degrees badger cull petition

Without you, badgers will die. Please, vote on the 38 degrees badger cull petition.

You can also visit the Badger Protection League for petition forms and news or telephone 01278 783250.

Please write yet again to your M.P. to show your concern - now before it’s too late!

The Government has agreed to give licences to farmers for pilot areas of 150 square kilometres. Badgers will be cage trapped and shot and the shooting of free running badgers at night will be allowed.

This opens the door to carnage and suffering in our countryside, a danger to all humans in those areas. There is no scientific evidence that it will reduce Bovine TB in cattle. Indeed many eminent scientists are saying loud and clear that it will make matters worse.

Please, vote on the 38 degrees petition and have your say.

8th August 2011: Please sign online petition against the badger cull

We have received the following plea from the Badger Trust:

Dear All,

Towards the end of last week we sent you a very brief message to the effect that 38 Degrees have launched a petition against the culling of badgers. The link is http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/badgers-petition#petition

This is to give you an update on progress to date. At the time of writing this, there are 17,510 signatures on the petition which is an excellent start but thousands more are needed for maximum impact. Also, it is becoming increasingly evident that the pro-cull brigade are posting many messages on various blogs in an attempt to dissuade people from signing the 38 Degrees petition. Some of the pro-cull organisations have greater finances and resources than Badger Trust has but their efforts to stop people signing up do indicate their concern that although we are a relatively small charity, we do have a great deal of credibility in the eyes of many of the public. One of our strengths is having the support of others: our own affiliated groups and their members, our supporters and our friends in many other wildlife and conservation organisations. That is why I am writing again, please, if you have not already signed the petition and passed it on to others, can you spare a couple of minutes to do so now. Don't delay - you really do need to act immediately.

It is a very simple process, all that is required is for you to open the above link and a page will appear with your name and details already included. There is a separate box in which comments can be made. If you are able to spare the time to write a few words to say why you are against the government's proposals, preferably with some reference to the scientific argument, it will help to counter some of the pro-cull arguments. If you visit the Badger Trust website at www.badgertrust.org.uk you can find the link on the Home page and also immediately below it, a link to some questions and answers on bovine TB which you may find helpful. If you don't have time to comment, please just submit your vote. Shortly after doing so, you will receive an acknowledgement from 38 Degrees enclosing a prepared letter for you to forward to other like minded people. If each recipient of this e-mail circulated it to 5 or more other people who did the same, it would make a huge difference to the response. 38 Degrees helped to achieve a U-turn on the sell-off of the forests, with your help they can do the same for the badgers. The actual decision to have a cull of badgers in England has not yet been made, the only decision taken to date is to have two pilot trials to assess the efficacy and humaneness of the controlled shooting of free running badgers. We all need to unite to indicate our abhorrence of this proposal in the hope of persuading the Government to heed the scientific advice which is readily available.
Each one of us has more than enough to do but it is hoped that you can spare just a few minutes to help us because we cannot do this on our own, we really do need your assistance. Thank you for reading this. Please go to the link and vote now!

20th July 2011: Badgers as target practice?

Badgers are to be used as target practice. That, says the Badger Trust, is the effect of Caroline Spelman's Commons announcement that she plans to hold two pilot culls in the south west.

Nowhere in her Commons statement was there any mention of the culls contributing to a reduction in the incidence of bTB in the pilot areas nor was there any mention of carrying out post mortems to establish whether the badgers are infected. How can it be humane to kill an animal solely to see how long it has taken to die?

Says the Trust: The Minister claims to be seeking a comprehensive and balanced solution. What she is proposing is likely to lead to a fragmented and confusing set of facts. They will bear no relationship to any existing science because the method of killing - shooting free running badgers at night - is untried, untested and its results unpredictable. The normal idea of a pilot trial is to test a proposal to see what the results are. The proposed pilot will simply use badgers as target practice to see if gunmen can shoot them, with no regard to whether they are diseased or healthy.

"The Minister has said that ducking the issue of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is not an option, but what she has done is to submerge the issue in unscientific confusion in a way that is likely to damage the interests of the very farmers she is trying to help. For example, the Minister uses one set of culling figures (obtained by cage trapping badgers) to forecast the results of a completely different method of culling (free shooting). This is not science. It is guesswork.

"Sadly, she also continues to place undue emphasis on the claimed reduction that badger culling might make to bTB spread. At best that is estimated to be 16 per cent over nine years. For far too long, too much effort and time has been devoted to badgers and far too little to the main causes of TB spread - ineffective testing, lax controls over cattle movements, and illegal activities. She must shoulder some of the blame for that.

"The Minister also appears to have learnt nothing about the risks associated with perturbation, a behaviour pattern which applies only to badgers. The very best scientific evidence makes it abundantly clear: disturbing stable social groups carries a serious risk of making the spread of bTB even more of a menace, and the shooting method she puts her faith in will surely make perturbation much worse. Her claim that this pilot exercise is science led is not sustainable".