This September, the British Government expanded a controversial badger cull to 11 new areas in the country, expected to result in the killing of over 32,000 badgers. The practice is meant to eradicate Bovine TB, a disease that adversely affects livestock, but conservationists have argued the connection to badgers infecting cattle is minimal at best, and culling is a devastating and ignorant wildlife management tool.
"The last Labour Government undertook the Randomized Badger Culling Trial which took over 8 years to complete cost over £50 million pounds and killed 11,000 badgers. All the badgers killed were tested for TB only 15% were found to have the disease and only 1.65% had late stage TB which resulted in visible TB lesions and the TB being excreted via the skin or urine (high risk of spreading the disease to other badgers). The Scientific Panel that reviewed the culling trial in 2006 concluded that " Badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to lowering bovine TB in cattle," said Dominic Byer, CEO of the Badger Trust, said in an interview with me. He cited that the panel recommended the government focus on measures to reduce the disease in cattle directly rather than scapegoating badgers, but the National Farmers Union, closely linked to the Britain's Conservative Party, the Tories, have lobbied and pushed for the badger culling to continue on an annual basis. As a result, former UK Prime Minister David Cameron included badger culling and reopened fox hunting as part of his party's platform in 2010 to win over rural voters. "7 years on from the 2010 election the Tories still cling to power and are extending the badger cull policy under pressure from the NFU despite clear scientific, cost and animal welfare failures."
In Wales, the Labour Government has decreased Bovine TB in cattle by nearly 50 percent through strategies of increasing bio-security measures on farms and regulating cattle movement. A badger vaccination program has also been implemented in high risk areas rather than opting to wipe out the animals.
Despite the scientific evidence to the contrary, and more effective strategies used elsewhere, the British Government continues to condone badger culling, an expensive, and inhumane practice. Prof Woodroffe, a wildlife expert at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) told BBC News earlier this year that Britain's badger culling relied on "fake science" to justify the practice.
"In the first year of the culls the government put in place an independent monitoring committee to assess the humaneness and effectiveness of the culling methods and contractors," Byer said. "The committee found that many contractors were poorly trained and that many badgers took between 5 to 10 minutes to die of blood loss and organ failure after being shot." Rather than accepting the advice and concerns expressed by the committee to reform the methods of the culling, the British Government disbanded it and ignored their findings.
The badger cull expands into several different health policies impact Britain, Around 25,000 cattle are infected with Bovine TB annually, but despite the risk of passing it on to humans, the meat is still sold for low-grade human consumption, despite many food chains and supermarkets banning it. The Independent reported in 2013, "the meat has been sold to processors supplying schools, hospitals and the military, or being processed into pies and pasties. The meat is sold with no warning that it comes from infected cattle."
There are also ecological concerns from conservationists over the impacts of wiping out badger populations in certain areas, which could create a surge in other predators such as foxes and weasels. The government has withheld releasing data on the ecological impacts of the cull, claiming doing so could give animal rights activists information on the landowners and farmers who carry out the culling.
"We are facing the possible local extinction of badgers from parts of England where they have lived for hundreds of thousands of years," Byer added. "The badger cull policy will cost tax payers over £50 million this year and probably £100 million by 2020. The policy has clearly failed to date on scientific, humaneness & cost grounds. To extend by 11 zones and kill over 30,000 badgers in next six weeks has no justification."