The extension of the badger cull is horribly cruel – and it won’t help farmers

Brian May

The government’s chief scientific adviser admits the animals may be responsible for just 6% of bovine TB. There are better solutions than yet more killing

Friday 26 August 201609.00 BSTLast modified on Friday 26 August 201612.40 BST

Tuesday was a sad day for our wild animals. The BBC reported that the badger cull will be extended into five new areas, although the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) would not confirm that the selections had been made.

News that the already failed cull would be expanded is particularly disappointing to those who hoped that a new government would bring new wisdom. This tragic development is born of a distortion of the real facts, supported by false promises and propaganda heaped on to the farming community.

There is mounting evidence that badgers have little to do with the spread of bovine tuberculosis. And there are no grounds whatsoever for believing that badger killing has made the slightest impact on the disease, but the government is seemingly pressing ahead, cheered on by the National Farmers Union.

People close to this machinery will tell you that it’s hard to see a clear line between the government and the NFU; and this in itself has a bad smell. No thought whatsoever is given to the suffering of the badgers, even though the government’s own independent expert panel delivered a verdict that the cull was neither humane nor effective. In fact, the shameful response from David Cameron’s government was to ensure there was no independent panel for the next rounds of culls.

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