County leaders come out against badger cull
Councillors in Hampshire have backed a motion to ban badger culling on county council owned land.
The motion was put forward at a full council meeting on September 19 by Lib Dem Councillor Rupert Kyrle and fellow councillors voted overwhelmingly in support of the ban.
The motion argued that more research was necessary to find cheaper and more effective solutions to the problem of bovine TB and culling was not scientifically proven.
The motion stated: “More research should be undertaken by Government and the scientific community to find more effective and cheaper vaccinations for badgers and cattle to help eradicate this terrible and costly disease from the countryside.”
The RSPCA welcomed the move and urged the Government to take note. 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.”
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
