RSPCA: Delight over local anti-badger cull vote
The RSPCA is delighted to learn that Hampshire County Council has voted to ban badger culling on its land, and calls on the Government to listen to this clear rejection of the cull.
Councillors overwhelmingly backed a motion to ban badger culling on county-owned land at a full council meeting in Winchester yesterday (Thurs, Sept 19). The motion argued that culling was not a scientifically proven solution to the TB problem.
The meeting came after pilot culls have been launched to kill 5,000 badgers in Somerset and Gloucestershire to curb the spread of Bovine TB in cattle.
RSPCA chief executive Gavin Grant said: “The Government cannot keep ignoring the growing numbers of people who are opposed to its unscientific and unethical shooting of badgers.
“Now councillors have come together to vote overwhelmingly against the policy. As the first shots have been fired against the badgers, people have been faced with the sad reality of what it actually means and it has become increasingly clear to many that this cull is not the answer to bovine TB in cattle.
“Huge numbers of badgers are dying– probably in their thousands – and yet science has shown that this will make little difference to bovine TB in cattle. We also have grave concerns about how they are being killed and whether this is humane.
“We are deeply sympathetic to the farmers dealing with the problems of this disease – but this cull will be of little help to their cattle.”
The RSPCA remains committed to putting a stop to this misguided attempt to control bovine TB in cattle which we believe will not solve the problems caused by this devastating disease or help the cows or the badgers. In fact, science has shown that the cull could make the problems worse.
We are also seriously concerned that the methods being used to kill the badgers are not humane. Their anatomy makes it difficult to shoot a free-roaming badger and they could be injured rather than killed and so suffer agonizing deaths elsewhere or underground.
To find out how you can help protest this cull, please visit http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaigns/wildlife/stop-the-cull
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