End the Badger Cull campaign reaches Westminster

Badger Campaigners were out in force at Westminster, calling for MPs to immediately end the badger cull.

Representatives from badger groups and other badger supporters attended a mass lobby event at Central Lobby in the House of Commons on 12 July. Around 50 people lobbied their MPs to end the badger cull immediately.

National badger charity Badger Trust and local badger groups, Born Free and the League Against Cruel Sports joined forces to put the case for ending the cull that has seen over 210,000 English badgers killed – estimated to be half of Britain’s badger population.

Peter Hambly, Executive Director of Badger Trust, said:

“Since 2013, half of Britain’s badger population has been killed through this cruel and inhumane policy, and the killing continues. The reason is supposedly to stop the spread of bovine TB."

"Yet the government’s own data show this disease is spread overwhelmingly from cattle-to-cattle."

"And badgers are not tested for bTB before (or after) killing, so most won’t even have the disease. This national wildlife disaster must stop now because localised badger extinction is becoming a real danger in many areas.”

He added:

“It was great to see so many people from local badger groups across the country coming to support this campaign. They travelled to Westminster to meet their MPs and put the case to them, face-to-face, to stop the slaughter of this iconic mammal.

Many pointed out to their MPs that Scotland and Wales don’t cull badgers and have lower rates of bTB in cattle by concentrating on cattle-based measures.

"Killing half of our native badgers in just 10 years – and in England alone – is a shocking statistic, a truly toxic wildlife policy, and one of the most extraordinary attacks on nature this country has ever seen.”