In light of reports that the pilot badger culls were “ineffective and failed the humaneness test”, The Wildlife Trusts are strongly urging the Government to abandon plans to roll out its culling policy and find a better solution to tackling the devastating disease, bovine Tuberculosis (bTB).
Analysis found that “the number of badgers killed fell well short of the target deemed necessary and more than five per cent of badgers culled took longer than five minutes to die, failing the test for humaneness”.
The Wildlife Trusts continue to urge the Government to prioritise badger vaccination, alongside a comprehensive package of cattle measures: better biosecurity, stricter movement controls, improved TB testing and development of a cattle vaccine. For more information and to see what action you can take, see hiwwt.org.uk
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