Following the failure last month of the pilot badger cull in Somerset to reach its 70% target, the cull in west Gloucestershire has now been abandoned after failure to meet the same target (reaching only 40%). It appears that despite the pilot extensions it just didn’t prove possible to ‘slaughter’ enough animals. Coupled with allegations of badgers being trapped then shot I would suggest this condemns the pilot as a failure. However, the rural affairs minister appears to be taking a different viewpoint and is blaming a small minority who resorted to widespread criminality in their determination to stop this disease control policy. An independent panel of experts will now consider the information collected during the pilots on the safety, effectiveness and humaneness of controlled shooting. As I previously posted, one thing that they will not be reporting on – because it has not been tested for – is the level of TB within the culled badgers. Note also that there doesn’t appear to be too much concern over whether the cull effectively contributes towards the significant decline in bTB, as the minister has clearly already made up his mind on that one. All that seems to matter is whether enough animals can be killed quickly enough. This information will be used by the minister to make a decision on any wider roll-out of the badger cull in the parts of England most severely affected by bTB. I think that we already know the answer to that one. What I would like to know is – if the badgers are being trapped (which must question the humaneness of the exercise) to be shot, why can’t they be trapped and vaccinated instead? bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-25183258
Posted on: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 14:56:11 +0000
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