6th April 2009: Badger Group condemns pilot cull as ‘slaughter dressed as science’

The Northern Ireland Badger Group has condemned Department of Agriculture plans to kill 1000 badgers in a pilot cull as ‘slaughter dressed as science’.

In a response to questions from the Public Accounts Committee, DARD admitted it is about to implement a pilot badger cull with permission to kill 1,000 badgers in a bovine TB intense area. DARD claims that the purpose of the cull is to gauge how many, if any, were carriers of the disease.

Incredibly, even when under fire from the Public Accounts Committee, DARD remains determined to squander public money on a pointless cull. Yet again the badger card has been played to deflect attention from the failings of DARD and the veterinary sector to implement and police measures at the farm gate.

Badger Group spokesman Mike Rendle said, ‘Killing 1000 badgers in a TB intense area can be nothing else but a cull. Both DARD and the NIEA, who issued the licence to kill the badgers, have failed to provide any genuine scientific justification for this appalling act of slaughter.'

Mr. Rendle also challenges Department claims that profiles would be built on the results of the cull and recommendations made for the future.

’This cull will do nothing to advance our knowledge about the control of TB,’ he said. ‘The Department has been processing road-kill badgers for over 30 years now. There is no shortage of badgers killed on our roads and yet DARD has failed to collect and use that data efficiently. A properly managed study of road kills would produce the information that the cull is supposed to provide in a humane and more cost-effective way.’

‘Let’s be clear, this is not some benign experiment - its sole purpose is to kill badgers in response to the hysteria generated by elements in the farming sector. Badgers caught using wire snares will suffer horribly. This is not science, it’s not humane and it’s not necessary’, he added.

24th March 2009: Badger Trust condemns "brutal" and "abhorrent" decision to kill badgers in Wales

Badger Trust Cymru today described the decision to kill badgers in Wales to control bovine TB as the start of a "brutal pogrom", following an announcement by Elin Jones, Minister for Rural Affairs.

The Badger Trust for the UK as a whole said it was an "abhorrent decision".

Steve Clark, spokesman for Badger Trust Cymru, commented: "This decision marks the start of a brutal pogrom against badgers.

"Elin Jones has ignored the weight of scientific opinion and caved in to bullying farming unions and cull-mad vets.

"By combining badger culling with other TB control measures, Elin Jones will have no idea which particular measure reduces the disease.

"But any resulting fall in bovine TB will inevitably be attributed to badger culling, spelling doom for badgers across both Wales and the UK as pressure mounts to repeat this brutal extermination elsewhere."

David Williams, chairman of the Badger Trust for the UK as a whole, commented:

"To slaughter badgers in Wales when, in England, trials of a vaccine for badgers are about to get underway, is a truly abhorrent decision.

"The evidence is clear that cattle spread bovine TB, with recent reports from the National Audit Offices in both England and Northern Ireland confirming that bovine TB testing is inadequately enforced and delivered.

"These problems also exist in Wales, but rather than putting farming in order, Elin Jones has decided to make a scapegoat of badgers instead. This is cheap, nasty politics of the very worst kind."

The Badger Trust has vowed to examine the decision in detail and consult with its legal advisors over whether it can be subject to a Judicial Review. Mr Williams added: "We will look at every legal means possible to stop this cull going ahead."