Campaigners concerned at the prospect of badger culling, set to go ahead in two areas of the South East later this year, have obtained a list of the names and addresses of farmers involved in cull companies and published them online.

The Coalition of Badger Action Groups published the information on Friday (17th August) and urged supporters to, “spend a few minutes contacting these people and let them know your views on the badger cull.” The group also announced plans to protest outside the businesses named.

The badger cull, proposed as part of Defra’s Bovine TB Eradication Plan, has divided opinion in England and the wider UK. Other UK governments have opted to control bovine TB through strict cattle measures and a vaccination programme in the badger population, which is thought to be a vector for disease spread. However, Defra, with the support of farming bodies, remains determined to push ahead with a cull in England.

CBAG claimed that, despite government assurances that the identity of farmers taking part in the cull would remain confidential for security reasons, the names were uncovered through simple research into local companies. As well as this week’s ‘name and shame’ information leak, animal rights activists have pledged to attempt to disrupt trial culls if and when they take place.

Animal welfare groups including the RSPCA, League Against Cruel Sports and the Badger Trust have publicly opposed cull plans, stating that the cull will be more expensive than Defra costings suggest and will prove inhumane and ineffectual. A list of MPs questioned over their views on the cull featured on the CBAG website shows the majority of respondents oppose culling.

Their reservations are also held by scientists including Lord Krebs who led the Random Badger Culling Trials under the previous government, and on whose evidence much of Defra’s information is based, and Professor John Bourne, head of the Independent Scientific Group.

NFU response

The NFU has reacted strongly to the ‘name and shame’ release. The union’s policy director, Martin Haworth, commented, “We are very disappointed that this has happened and we are doing everything we can to support and protect those individuals that have been named.”

The policy director said the NFU had asked both Defra and Natural England, the cull licensing body, how the information came to enter the public domain. He said both had assured that their “systems are secure.” However, CBAG said it had discovered the culling companies by searching amongst those registered at the NFU Headquarters.

Animal organisations organise ahead of the cull

The Badger Trust, working with local badger groups from the designated cull areas in Somerset and Gloucestershire, has this week arranged a meeting to raise public awareness of the badger cull and discuss the scientific case against culling. The trust is currently involved in a legal challenge against the cull. Following a failed challenge in the High Court, the trust’s case will be heard in the court of Appeal on 11th September.

Badger Trust chair David Williams today said, “The free shooting plan is a foolish compromise designed to save money for the farming consortia arranging the slaughter. If it proved inhumane, ineffective or unsafe they would have to find ten times as much for the cage trapping and shooting method the Coalition Government would saddle them with”.

The Hunt Sabboters Association has also called on its supporters to mount peaceful direct actions to prevent the cull. The association said, “We urge people to take whatever legal steps they think are necessary in order to halt the cull before thousands of innocent badgers are slaughtered to appease the powerful dairy farming lobby."

Although farming bodies maintain culling is an essential part of tackling bovine TB and Defra claims no TB outbreak has ever been curtailed without first addressing the wildlife reservoir, animal welfare organisations dispute these assertions.

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