Scientists, vets and naturalists are calling for a moratorium on the badger cull in the light of evidence that they say shows nine years of killing badgers has failed to reduce bovine TB in cattle.
The culling of legally protected badgers to reduce cattle TB enters its 10th season this summer, despite the publication of a scientific paper in the journal Veterinary Record earlier this year which concluded that culling had no significant impact on bTB in cattle herds. The paper sparked a row over its methodology, which the government says was flawed, but its supporters say it shows the practice should be ended.
In an open letter to the prime minister and the environment secretary, experts including Jane Goodall, Prof Andrew Knight and Prof Ranald Munro, who served on the government’s independent scientific panel examining the efficacy and humaneness of culling, warned that new culling licences could target 25,000 badgers in addition to more than 175,000 killed under licence since the controversial policy began in 2013.
Although the government pledged in 2020 to phase out badger culling in favour of cattle and badger vaccination, better cattle TB tests and enhanced biosecurity measures on farms, new licences issued this summer will continue to see badgers shot dead until 2025.
In the letter, the signatories, including Chris Packham, Caroline Lucas MP and Will Travers and Virginia McKenna, founders of Born Free, called for an immediate moratorium on issuing a final set of four-year culling licences, asking the government to conduct “a thorough, independent and transparent” review of the policy.
The peer-reviewed Vet Record paper by the independent ecologist Tom Langton and the vets Iain McGill and Mark Jones – also signatories to the letter – analysed government data on bovine TB in cattle herds within the “high risk” area of England over 2010-2020 and found that in nine out 10 counties, bTB incidence peaked and began to fall before badger culling commenced.
In response, Defra published its own analysis in the form of a graph, which was not peer-reviewed, and which it subsequently admitted was based on “incorrect calculations”. Defra maintains that the Vet Record paper was “scientifically flawed” and says culling has reduced cattle TB.
Tom Langton, the lead author of the independent paper, said: “Defra have painted themselves into a ridiculous scientific corner and now simply refuse to discuss it. This is the sign of a government that has lost its grip and cannot accept that its own data now shows badger culling to be a cruel and ineffective failure.”
A Defra spokesperson said: “We have reviewed the paper published in Vet Record along with Apha [Animal and Plant Health Agency] scientists and found that the analysis was scientifically flawed, whereas national statistics are showing that our bovine TB eradication strategy is working as we are now seeing sustained reductions in this insidious disease.
“As a result of the progress made, we are now able to move on to the next phase of the long-term eradication strategy, including setting out steps to expand badger vaccination alongside improved cattle testing and a potential cattle vaccine. We have always been clear we don’t want to continue the current badger cull longer than absolutely necessary.”
McGill said: “Our analysis was rigorously peer-reviewed and robust. Defra’s response was non peer-reviewed and based on the wrong data. If Defra are confident they are right, then they should have no issue with an independent review of all the available data.”
Lucas said: “It couldn’t be clearer – badger culling simply doesn’t stop the spread of TB in cattle. Yet even when presented with this evidence, Defra has its fingers in its ears, and continues to kill at will. We need to see a moratorium to allow time for independent scrutiny of the evidence – which I have no doubt will reinforce the message that this cruel and counterproductive badger cull must come to an end.”
