More on the Badger cull …. huge credit to the First Minister of Wales

I have written about the appalling and totally unnecessary Badger cull in England on several occasions …. see here, here, here, here and here.

Now the First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, has shown real leadership after he set out a clear understanding and plan of attack for tackling bovine tuberculosis (bTB), a respiratory disease in cattle, which left any blame on Badgers out of the equation.

Highlighting the Welsh Labour Government’s commitment in its manifesto at the recent election, now confirmed in their “Programme for Government”, he stated on the floor of the Senedd that “culling of Badgers will not happen in Wales”. The Programme itself states that the Government “forbid the culling of Badgers to control the spread of TB in cattle.”

Mark Drakeford was responding to a question from Janet Finch-Saunders, MS (Conservative) Aberconwy, in which, after meeting with farmers calling for action, she called for the introduction of mass culling of Badgers as used in England since 2013.

Mark Drakeford said: “Culling of Badgers will not happen in Wales. Just be clear about that, it was in the Labour Party Manifesto, it was endorsed by the electorate, it [culling] will not happen. And if we want a serious debate it is better for farmers to recognise that, and again to talk with us about things that we can do rather than complaining about things that are not going to happen.”

Dawn Varley, Acting CEO of Badger Trust, commented: “What we see here is a senior politician talking the most the sense on bTB control than we’ve seen for a long time. bTB is a cattle disease, passed between cattle by cattle, brought to herds by the importation of infected cattle, and brought to different parts of the country by the movement of cattle – as such the starting point to address it is cattle. That can be through strict biosecurity measures on farms, thorough restrictions on the movement of cattle, robust and regular testing or, as the First Minister says, through cattle vaccination. Serious progress has been needed on the latter for several years, and we urge him to speed up research in this area.”

Yet at the same time our Government at Westminster continues with its scientifically flawed and immensely cruel cull of Badgers.

The next round of licences to kill Badgers was released at the beginning of June.

The 2020 figures announced earlier this year added 38,642 Badgers killed, taking the total number since 2013 to 140,991. Add the Badgers still to be killed under further Government licences and this could lead to an overall total of 280,000.

A recent survey on Badger numbers in England and Wales put the estimated population at 485,000. The impact of the Badger cull on Badger populations is not known in either the short, medium or long term.

I can not even begin to adequately express my anger and disgust at our Government and the continuation and expansion of the Badger cull.

Rather than phasing out the killing of Badgers in favour of bTB vaccination of Badgers themselves and cattle, the Government at Westminster is expanding the mass destruction of a much-loved species, a policy which is little more than ecological vandalism on an unprecedented scale.

Stop the cull!

Support the Badger Trust in its campaign.

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature