The Government’s "Action Plan for Animal Welfare" fails to include Badgers

The Government has promised "the highest standards of animal welfare" in the UK as part of the Queen's Speech on Wednesday of this week..

Outlining its plans for the upcoming Parliamentary session, the pledges and measures promised by the Government will be covered by 3 Bills introduced over the next year.

The Government has said that it wants to be a "global leader" on animal welfare and set "high standards for others across the world to follow".

However, the Badger Trust, whilst generally welcoming the Government’s Queen’s Speech announcement of a programme of animal welfare measures, has criticised the approach as appearing to exclude any consideration of Badgers or recognise the ongoing Badger cull which has to date killed over 140,000 Badgers since 2013.

I have previously written about the appallingly cruel and unnecessary Badger cull here, here, here and here

The Government's policy paper “Action Plan for Animal Welfare” published following the Queen’s Speech begins with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs stating, ‘We are a nation of animal lovers…’ and ‘The way we treat animals reflects our values and the kind of people we are…’ .

Despite this, no reference is made to what the future may hold for Badgers given that recent proposals still put the Government on track to kill another 140,000 Badgers in the coming years.

Dawn Varley, Acting CEO of the Badger Trust, said: “Whilst we welcome the policy paper in general as progress for animals, and the statement that the Government is putting 'animal sentience at the heart of policy making' we despair that this progress seems to be at the exclusion of Badgers.”.

The Badger Trust has reviewed the Government’s policy paper and responded to relevant sections in Section 8 entitled “Wild Animals”:

“We have an ambitious programme of work that looks both at kept wild animals, and at the conservation of those in the wild.”

 “Badger Trust welcomes this sentiment. Unfortunately it ignores the fact that the Government has since 2013 killed over 140,000 Badgers as part of its bTB eradication policy, and under current proposals, is due to kill around the same number again under continuing cull licences. Badgers are being obliterated, not conserved, whilst being blamed for a problem they are not responsible for.”

“Looking towards animals in the wild, the Government is committed to protecting domestic biodiversity”

“Badger Trust welcomes this commitment in theory, but in practice believes the current Badger cull approach in England threatens the survival of the badger, and has an active complaint under the Bern Convention (in conjunction with Born Free and Eurogroup for Animals) against the Government for threatening the species with extinction at local level.”

“.... launch a call for evidence on the use of snares. Some people consider that snares are an inhumane and unnecessary means of trapping wild animals, while others maintain they are an essential tool in controlling Foxes and Rabbits…”

“Badger Trust welcomes this move on snares, which are an outdated, unnecessary and indiscriminate killer of wildlife, often inflicting a slow and painful death not only on the ‘intended target’ but also other wildlife which may be caught. Badgers are often the unintended victims of snares and we stand ready to respond to the call for evidence and push for a total ban on snares.”

“.... tackle wildlife crime. This is why we recently invited the UN to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the UK’s preventive and criminal justice responses which are crucial to curtailing wildlife and forest crime nationally and internationally….”

 “Badger Trust welcomes proactive and positive moves on all wildlife crime, national and international. Badgers are the only species offered protection in UK law due to historic and continued persecution. The charity works closely with the police, other enforcement agencies, and related partner organisations to combat wildlife crime, and promotes public awareness through its ‘Stop Badger Crime’ campaign. However Badger Trust believes the ongoing cull negatively impacts on the understanding and reputation of the Badger, falsely fostering a belief that it's ‘fair game’ to persecute Badgers as the Government does it on a mass scale.”

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