Badger Trust continues to work with the government and stakeholders to try to end the badger cull.

Badger Trust is part of the wildlife group being consulted on the government’s plans on bTB, which includes ending badger culls by January 2026. 

We are part of the wildlife group being consulted on the government’s plans on bTB, which includes ending badger culls by January 2026.  

Wildlife and Countryside Link members have met with Defra officials twice and Badger Trust has led the way calling for an immediate end to the cull and a focus on cattle measures, including cattle vaccination.  

Cattle are the overwhelming spreaders of the disease (around 94% according to the government’s figures) and the new policies should focus here. We will continue to meet constructively with Defra on this and submit proposals and evidence wherever Defra is asking for it on bTB. We have met with leading Defra officials twice in the last few months and are hopeful of future meetings to input into policy changes. It is clear that badgers need to be taken out of the frame, and the focus should be pointed at cattle to reduce this cattle-based disease.

Despite our best efforts Freedom of Information requests show the government seems to meet the farming lobby weekly to discuss bTB and badgers.  

This obsession with badgers continues to mark the farming industry lobby approach and this in turn feeds into the government’s own approach. However, the problem of bTB lies in the cattle herd and we are pushing for Defra to include wildlife representatives in any new bTB working groups/partnerships for the new policy. In Northern Ireland badger groups are represented when it comes to bTB - why not England?  

TAKE ACTION: We urge supporters to write to the Secretary of State and ask for more diverse representation on the formal groups looking at this (Letter Below)

In parallel with the meetings with the UK government, we continue to meet and work with the Welsh Government. These have continued to be constructive and focused on how largely cattle-based measures are bringing down bTB.  In Wales they do not cull badgers and have reduced bTB by focusing on cattle.   Interestingly we have also made sure that the figures reported on the gov.uk website now reflect the better cattle testing in Wales.  We remain concerned that rigorous cattle testing does not take place in England and may hide the true extent of cattle-to-cattle based transmission.

Send to defra.helpline@defra.gov.uk

Rt Hon Steve Reed OBE MP

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Dear Secretary of State

I am concerned about the lack of nature and wildlife representation in the formal groups looking at new bovine TB policies.   bTB affects nature and wildlife and past policies have done huge damage, especially to badgers, despite it being largely a cattle-based and cattle-spread disease.  The majority of the population is against the English badger cull and the fact Wales and Scotland do not kill badgers and achieve better results on bTB reduction shows the policy needs to change in England.   Could you confirm how nature and wildlife are represented in these groups, compared to other stakeholders?

Thank you for your attention to this.

Yours,