The UK Government is back in front of the Bern Convention this week about its badger cull policy

New evidence highlights local extinction concerns from an inadequate population census and Natural England’s 2024 decision to cull against advice.

The UK Government is back in front of the Bern Convention this week due to its continuing contentious badger culling policy that has already killed over 230,000 badgers and is targeting another 50,000 for death in 2024.  

The Bern Convention is an international treaty to conserve and protect nature and wildlife. The UK is a signatory and is expected to adhere to its principles.

Further evidence from Badger Trust, Born Free and Eurogroup for Animals is before the Convention.   This evidence draws particular attention to the continuing inadequate population census of badgers. A population census is needed to avoid instances of local extinction. 

The evidence also highlights the controversy surrounding the 2024 badger cull that started in June, which is proceeding against the advice of the Head of Science at Natural England and despite the Labour manifesto calling the cull “ineffective”.

Peter Hambly Badger Trust said,

"For the Bern Convention to hold an open file on the actions of the UK government shows how damaging the badger killing is to our natural world. 

Bovine TB is a largely cattle-to-cattle spread disease so the mass killing of badgers is unjustified, ineffective and unethical.  

When scientists say stop and with local extinction events of badgers at risk of occurring throughout the southwest we must call a halt to this assault on nature and English wildlife tragedy."

Mark Jones, Born Free stated,

“Badgers are a protected species under the Council of Europe’s Bern Convention. The UK government is a signatory to the Convention and is thereby bound to implement it. 

The rationale for allowing badgers to be culled under the terms of the Convention is to prevent serious damage to cattle. The UK government’s admission in its manifesto that the culls are ineffective means it has no grounds on which to continue with the policy. 

One more dead badger is one too many. We implore the Convention to urge the government to implement an immediate moratorium on killing badgers, and to come to the table to discuss alternative strategies for controlling bovine TB.”

Parliamentary Questions relating to the Bern Convention complaint were tabled by Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb on 11 September 2024

Alongside the culling policy complaint against the government currently being considered by the Bern Convention, a question on badger population measurement methods used has been asked in the House of Lords:

“Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb to ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the complaint in relation to the Government's badger culling policy being considered by the Bureau of the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention at its third meeting of 2024, what methods have been used to measure the badger population since 2012 to ensure local extinction events do not take place.”

A question on the government's conduct that brought it to the Bern Convention has also been asked in the House of Lords:

“Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb to ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the complaint in relation to the Government's badger culling policy being considered by the Bureau of the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention at its third meeting of 2024, on what occasions their actions have been brought to the attention of the Bureau of the Standing Committee, and how many times that they are aware of has an open file have been kept on their actions.”

We will share the responses.