Badger Trust urges Defra to come clean on Badger Cull Licences
- Badger Trust Staff Team
- Sep 20, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 24, 2022
Cull has been operating throughout September despite a lack of public announcement.
Badger Trust has contacted the new Defra Ministerial team and Natural England urging them to release the details of the “final” intensive cull licences and numbers of condemned badgers.
Peter Hambly, Executive Director of Badger Trust, said: “Defra needs to come clean on what is happening on badger cull licences.
According to reports on the ground, the 2022 intensive cull started in late August and has continued throughout September without a pause.
Yet Defra has not published where the badgers are being intensively culled and how many will be culled. Given the latest scientific evidence points to the fact that badger culling has had no effect on bTB in cattle, this is yet more poor practice from Defra.” With the lack of public transparency over 2022 intensive cull licences, there is further confusion about the government’s current and ongoing bTB policy. It appears that not only are Defra and Natural England failing to communicate with the public, they are not even communicating with each other.
This summer, Badger Trust along with Born Free, FOUR PAWS, IFAW, League Against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA, wrote a letter to Natural England asking for the immediate suspension of the supplementary badger cull amidst the extreme heatwave. In their response, Natural England stated they “can confirm that 2022 will be the final year when new area licences are granted”.
This statement is, however, markedly different from previous Defra statements, where Defra spokespersons have explicitly retained the right to continue culling beyond 2025, based on (unspecified) “epidemiological evidence”. Simply put, the projection for the ongoing bTB policy is unclear, as is information about which areas of the country are currently undergoing cruel and unnecessary culling.
Peter Hambly explained: “These were meant to be the last licences issued, with badger culling ending in 2025. But Defra is unclear on this and seems to contradict the licensing authority, Natural England.
Marian Spain, Chief Executive of Natural England, wrote to other wildlife groups and us on 1st September 2022, welcoming the government’s decision to phase out culling and stating that 2022 was the final year for cull licences, implying 2025 would be when the “final culls are completed”. Again we see Defra continuing to spread confusion and undermining confidence through their lack of transparency and clarity. Defra should follow the evidence and stop the badger cull now.”
01 September 2022 letter from Marian Spain, Chief Executive of Natural England re: Bovine TB Licensing and the impact of extreme weather conditions
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