Badger culling will end in England by 2029, the government has said.
Some culls under existing licences will continue until 2026, according to sources at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), but it is highly unlikely any new ones will be granted.
The National Farmers’ Union has been lobbying government to keep the badger cull until there is definitive proof bovine tuberculosis (bTB) can be stopped without killing badgers.
However, Defra ministers have said not enough research has been done in recent years to find out whether badgers carry the disease.
It is thought more than 200,000 badgers have been culled in the past decade, and the government will commission a population survey to ascertain the damage the cull has done to wildlife populations. The last such survey was carried out in 2012. It will also create a badger vaccination taskforce and set up a scientific survey to find out whether wild badgers are carrying bTB.
Daniel Zeichner, the minister for food security and rural affairs, said: “Bovine tuberculosis has devastated British farmers and wildlife for far too long. It has placed dreadful hardship and stress on farmers who continue to suffer the loss of valued herds and has taken a terrible toll on our badger populations.
“No more. Our comprehensive TB eradication package will allow us to end the badger cull by the end of this parliament and stop the spread of this horrific disease.”
Campaigners have called for Labour to move faster. Peter Hambly, the chief executive of the Badger Trust, said: “The new announcement … focuses too much on badgers rather than cattle, when it is cattle that are the main spreaders of this cattle disease. It admits the government doesn’t know how many badgers are left or how many even have bTB. They haven’t counted them and haven’t tested them but continue to slaughter them.
“[This is] contrary to the scientific evidence which points to reducing cattle-to-cattle transmission as the way forward. In the election campaign, Labour admitted badger culling was ineffective, yet they have chosen to target badgers for slaughter in their tens of thousands.”
This article by Helena Horton was first published by The Guardian on 30 August 2024. Lead Image: It is thought more than 200,000 badgers have been culled in the past decade. Photograph: Roy Waller/Alamy.
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