Speak up to save badgers
23 June 2023
SPEAK UP TO SAVE BADGERS
Care about badgers? Join us to lobby your MP to end the cull.
Since 2013, around 210,000 badgers have been killed under licence across large swathes of the west of England as part of the government’s strategy to control the spread of bovine TB in cattle. Yet there is no good evidence that the slaughter is having a significant impact on the rates of infection among cattle herds.
If we are to bring this carnage to an end, we need to persuade the current government of the folly of its ways, and any future government must commit to ending the cull.
Born Free has joined representatives from groups from across the country to call for an end to the cull and the rejection of a cull extension, and we’re inviting our supporters to write to their MP and join us for a mass lobby of Members of Parliament in Westminster on Wednesday 12th July.
If you care about badgers and are able to attend, please write to your MP asking them to meet you in the Central Lobby at Westminster at 2.30pm on July 12th to hear your concerns about the ongoing legal persecution of one of our few remaining and much-loved large mammals, and please let us know you’re coming. We will meet outside Westminster on the day and go through to the lobby together. We will also provide briefing notes for your use.
Ten years of slaughter
Since 2013, around 210,000 badgers have been killed under licence across large swathes of the west of England as part of the government’s strategy to control the spread of bovine TB in cattle. The vast majority of these badgers have been killed by so-called ‘controlled shooting’ (targeting free-roaming badgers at night with high-powered rifles), a method condemned as inhumane by the government’s own Expert Panel and the British Veterinary Association.
Yet there is no good evidence that the slaughter is having a significant impact on the rates of infection among cattle herds. The latest independent research published last year found that, while bovine TB incidence and prevalence is reducing, there was no correlation between that reduction and the culling of badgers.
In spite of this, Natural England renewed culling licences just recently which could see as many as 30,000 additional badgers being targeted this year. In a clear U-turn from its promise that culling will be wound down, the government is also planning to consult on the implementation of so-called ‘epidemiological culling’ in response to outbreaks of bovine TB in parts of England outside the main bovine TB areas, which could see thousands more badgers slaughtered under licence every year for many years to come.
About the event
Badger Trust has arranged a Lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 12th July to draw MP’s attention to the ongoing badger cull and plans to extend it via epidemiological culling.
Working in collaboration with Born Free and other like-minded organisations, they are calling on people to write to their MP, to invite them to meet in the lobby at Westminster to discuss our shared concerns about the badger cull.
The plan for the day
- 13.30 pm – Photo opportunity of all attendees on the grass opposite the House of Commons (with campaign materials)
- 14.30 pm – Group goes together through security to Central Lobby and MPs will be called down to meet us.
NB: Once we go into security, we cannot take any campaign items, or wear anything campaign-related eg a t-shirt saying stop the cull. (Full information at plan your visit to House of Commons & Security)
Ahead of the event, details including a briefing document with key facts will be provided to help with your conversations.
It is time to #EndTheCull