The Secretary of State Caroline Spelmen has announced a badger cull in Autumn 2012 as a way of tackling the spread of bovine Tuberculosis.
A 10 year badger culling study showed that culling can have 'NO MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTION' to reducing the incidence of bTB in cattle. Overall, the incidence of bTB decreased by only 12-16% - THIS LEAVES 85% OF THE PROBLEM STILL THERE! Infact, during the trial, the incidence of bTB actually INCREASED due to badger culling!!! Does this sound like an appropriate control method to you?
Caroline Spelmen is going to allow farmers and landowners to shoot free running badgers (as appose to cage trapping and shooting). This is purely to cut down on costs and effort! This shooting has to take place at night as badgers are noctural and therefore the accuracy is going to be poor! This means that the badgers WILL NOT HAVE A HUMANE DEATH. Instead, they will be severly wounded and suffer a cruel, brutal and inhumane death.
WE MUST STOP THIS BEFORE IT STARTS!
Remember, it is called 'bovine' tuberculosis for a reason - cattle gave it to the badgers, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!
