Brian May documentary shows Government and its agencies are letting everyone down on bTB
- Badger Trust Staff Team
- Aug 23, 2024
- 3 min read
Government departments are not fit for purpose and need a complete overhaul to end misinformation and confusion about bovine TB crisis for farmers.
The detailed documentary ‘Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me’, aired on BBC Two on Friday, 23 August, reveals how far the government has shifted from supporting farmers and finding effective solutions to the bTB crisis.
Instead, the documentary starkly shows that Defra has knowingly focused on an ineffective badger culling policy in an unsuccessful attempt to control bTB, whilst failing to provide vital information and support to farmers and vets to help them get out of this situation.
The documentary showed how the government and its agencies rely on decades-old inaccurate testing, again knowing its insensitivity, not giving vets and farmers the information they need to stop the spread of bTB among cattle herds, and instead spreading misinformation and confusion to cover their ineffectiveness and shore up political support for a failed policy.
Although there is no causal link between badgers and bTB spread in cattle, tens of millions of pounds have been spent by farmers and taxpayers pointlessly massacring a native species in their tens of thousands, alongside continuing to slaughter 0.5% of cattle per year and causing untold mental suffering to farmers through the process.
Rosie Wood, Chair of Badger Trust Board, commented:
“It is clear that from the first randomised badger culls up to now, there has been no causal link between badgers and bTB spread in cattle. We even have Defra’s legal team conceding this in writing to our solicitors!
Whether you care about badgers should be immaterial: you should still be outraged. We’ve had over a decade of a government department systematically and deliberately misleading farmers, taxpayers and parliamentarians, including those on the previous government’s own side.
Officials could still have delivered government policy without being so ‘economical with the truth’ about its ineffectiveness, cost, or the real causes of the problem.
When government sets policy, it should have the courage of its convictions, admit when the evidence does not justify it, and be willing to make its own political argument.
Killing badgers was callously designed to win support from a very small section of the farming industry — political cynicism of the highest order and at great financial cost to taxpayers.”
Peter Hambly, Chief Executive of Badger Trust, said:
“This documentary focused on farmers and the support and advice they need to reduce bTB in cattle.
It is clear that, like everyone else involved in this debacle, the farmers have been badly let down by misinformation and distractions. Farmers need the proper support to reduce bTB in the herd, not more nonsense about culling badgers, which science has repeatedly shown will never be an effective bTB solution. “
“It seems that Defra and APHA are not fit for purpose; they have failed farmers, and they have failed our natural world, especially badgers.
They need a complete overhaul, or they will keep making the same devastating mistakes again and again, with no respite for farmers, cows or badgers.
They need a more comprehensive, fluid and effective approach to managing disease in the cattle herd and give the vets and farmers the support they need to carry this through. And they need to leave badgers alone.
The British public wants the farmers to be helped and is against the badger cull — let’s move forward together.”
Further information
The documentary ‘Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me’ is available to watch now via BBC iPlayer
Join in with the National Day of Action Against the Badger Cull on Tuesday, 3 September
Badger Trust is holding a National Day of Action Against the Badger Cull on Tuesday, 3 September 2024. Will you join in?
Wildlife groups and badger protectors around the UK will come together in a powerful display of unity to call for the new government to end the cull as intensive badger killing begins again in September.
Join us outside Parliament in London
The morning will start with multiple anti-cull petition presentations at Defra.
From 11 am to 1.30 pm, supporters will gather in Parliament Square, London, where we will hold a peaceful, legal demonstration against the badger cull.
From 1.30 pm, supporters will enter Parliament with us for a mass lobby of MPs and call for an immediate end to the ineffective and unethical cull.
Download your guide to the day and learn how you can take part.
Join in from home
You can still make a difference for badgers from your home:
Arrange a meeting with your newly elected MP that week. Tell them you're advocating for an immediate end to the cruel badger killing.
Email your newly elected MP about the cull and why you want them to represent your views and stop the cull now.
