More than 32,000 badgers were killed in England this autumn during the annual cull, which is intended to reduce tuberculosis in cattle. Government officials claimed the culls were effective and starting to reduce prevalence of the disease in cows. But independent scientists said the officials were cherry-picking data and making up targets as they went […]
Tag: culling
POLL: Should badgers be culled to control the spread of tuberculosis in cattle?
The beam from Lynn Sawyer’s head torch scans the dark trees on a Gloucestershire hillside before settling on a barely visible cage hidden in a thicket of brambles. “They’ve been trapping and shooting badgers here for six years and they are still doing it,” she says, trudging over a carpet of rotting leaves towards the […]
POLL: Should the National Trust be allowed to slaughter wild boar on its estates?
The National Trust has been criticised for planning to cull wild boar at its Stourhead estate in Wiltshire. It said it had taken the “difficult decision” to remove the animals from its land following reports that members of the public were feeling intimidated by the prospect of coming face-to-face with a wild boar. The charity […]
POLL: Should the Government’s senseless slaughtering of badgers be allowed to continue?
Poor old badgers. Not since the hunting ban has a wild animal evoked such fierce passions, both in farmers convinced they spread TB to cattle and wildlife lovers implacably opposed to a government-backed cull which will mean the deaths of more than 42,000 badgers this year. Only now it seems we may have been barking […]
POLL: Should Scotland review its animal culling and trophy hunting laws?
The Scottish government is to review the law around animal culling after an American TV presenter caused outrage by tweeting pictures of herself and a companion posing with a wild goat shot on Islay. Larysa Switlyk, who describes herself as a “professional huntress”, posted a picture of herself smiling behind the animal. The image has […]
Huge increase in badger cull will see up to 42,000 shot
The controversial badger cull in England has been hugely expanded into 10 new areas, with up to 42,000 animals now due to be shot in an attempt to curb tuberculosis in cattle, up from 32,500 last year. The farming minister George Eustice claimed the cull is starting to show results in Gloucestershire and Somerset, with […]
‘You will never run from death’: shot by poachers in Uganda
The bullet that pierced the shoulder of Ugandan ranger Samuel Loware had already taken one life and could easily have added his. The shell was fired by a Sudanese poacher trying to flee back over the border with contraband meat from the Kidepo Valley national park. Loware had been tracking the fugitive – one of […]
POLL: Should the Government’s badger culling policy be abandoned?
Badger culling will be extended across England on an open-ended basis, conservationists have warned, after the high court rejected a challenge to the legality of the government’s policy. Licences to allow badger culling to continue in particular areas beyond a four-year period are legal, ruled Mr Justice Cranston, rejecting a challenge brought by the independent […]