5,000 badgers are expected to be shot dead by farmers over the next six weeks in two one hundred square mile areas in west Gloucestershire and west Somerset. Both Labour and the Green Party say the controversial cull is "unscientific" and should be "halted" and protesters have pledged to stop the shooting going ahead.
Peter Kendall, the National Farmers' Union president, confirmed that the cull had started in an open letter to his members this morning, his letter said: "I am writing to let you know that the first pilot badger control operations have begun. I know that many of you reading this will have suffered the misery of dealing with TB on farm - some of you for decades - and I hope now you will feel that something is finally being done to stem the cycle of infection between cattle and badgers."
He added: "Badger control remains a controversial subject and we understand that some people will never agree with controlling badgers in this way. I am confident however that through the combined efforts of farmers, the NFU and government over the last year to illustrate the impact TB has on farms, and the scientific basis for badger control, more people than ever recognise the need to address the disease in badgers. This is an important step not just for cattle farmers but for the whole farming industry."
Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, said he wanted the UK to be free of TB in 25 years, and would only judge the cull policy a success if this was achieved. He said research had shown there was a “clear reduction in disease” when badgers were killed. Saying that "we do have a vaccine for badgers, but it is absolutely pointless vaccinating diseased animals, particularly the badger, which has the capacity to spread this disease in such an extraordinary manner. So there is a real role for badger vaccine once the reservoir of disease is reduced,"
However Shadow Environment Secretary, Mary Creagh, called for the cull to be halted. She said: "The Government's divisive badger cull will cost more than it saves and will spread bovine TB in the short term as badgers are disturbed by shooting. We need a science-led policy to manage cattle movements better and a vaccine to tackle TB in cattle. Ministers should listen to the scientists and drop this cull which is bad for farmers, bad for taxpayers and bad for wildlife.”
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett also criticised the cull saying: "I completely understand the distress that the continuing problem of TB in cattle is causing to farmers. But wanting to do something should not be pushing this government to make the terrible decision to go ahead with this cull, which could actually magnify the TB problem. As the Randomised Badger-Culling Trial (RBCT) concluded, the focus of funding and research should be cattle-based measures to control TB, and funding for badger vaccination trials should be restored. The planned actions in Somerset and Gloucester are inhumane and not backed by the scientific evidence.”
Ms Bennett added: "This government, whether it’s on energy policy, on welfare benefits policy, or on drug laws, far too often ignores the evidence. It’s this policy – and approach to policy-making - that should be culled, not the badgers."
