Animal welfare and farming groups have shared their reactions after the Westminster government announced that the English badger cull, which was due to start in a few days, will not now go ahead this year.

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Environment Secretary Owen Paterson addressed parliament on Tuesday (23rd October); he assured that the cull decision is a delay and not a U-turn, amidst speculation that the postponement will allow Defra to kick the unpopular and unworkable policy into the long grass to safe face. The last minute delay is without question another serious bungle for Defra, and one of many for the Coalition government which looks evermore incompetent with each new revelation.

The cull was delayed after Defra assessors revealed there were more than twice as many badgers in the two trial cull areas as had been expected, which caused concern for farmers in culling companies, as it would be almost impossible to kill 70 per cent of the areas' badgers in the six weeks remaining before this year's closed season. The revelation also sparked fears over the potential for the cost of culling, much of which is being borne by the farmers, to rise dramatically.

Tuesday's revelation came as the Badger Trust served cull licensing body Natural England with a 'pre-action protocol' letter, requesting clarification of a number of outstanding concerns and announcing its intention to press ahead with a second legal challenge. Documents released by Defra in recent weeks show senior police officers and eminent scientists had also expressed misgivings about the cull.

Addressing the House of Commons, Mr Paterson said, "In these circumstances, [postponing culling] is the right thing to do and, as the people who have to deliver this policy on the ground and work within the science, I respect their decision. I must emphasise that there is no change to the Government’s policy.  We remain absolutely committed to it but we must ensure that we work with the NFU to get the delivery right."

Farming and wildlife groups share reactions

The NFU has echoed Mr Paterson’s sentiments. NFU president Peter Kendall, who wrote to the Environment Minister on behalf of the culling companies to request the delay, said on Tuesday "The NFU and its members take their responsibilities on this issue extremely seriously and I know there will be many who are devastated by today’s news. We have all worked tirelessly to prepare for the delivery of this government policy to see us finally get on top of this terrible disease. But there have been a series of obstacles, not least the appalling weather, delays because of the Olympics and Paralympics, and the legal challenges from those against the policy."

"We have always said that this is has to be a science-led policy to reduce disease and we have to be confident of achieving the numbers needed for disease reduction. As we rapidly approach winter the odds of achieving that number decrease. This is why, reluctantly, we have taken the decision, with the companies involved, to delay until late spring next year.” He added that the decision was “exceptionally difficult, but on balance is responsible and right."

Nick Fenwick, agricultural policy director at the Farmers' Union of Wales called on the government to use the delay to reassess the impacts of the Randomised Badger Culling Trials, on which much of the evidence behind current culling plans is based.

Although the scientists conducting the trials concluded that badger culling could result in "no meaningful" contribution to bovine TB control and have since come out in opposition to cull proposals, Dr Fenwick believes that areas where trial culling took place have since seen benefits from the measure which have gone unreported. Nevertheless, thirty scientific experts, including senior members of the RBCT, who wrote an open letter which appeared in the Observer on Sunday 14th October said "culling badgers as planned is very unlikely to contribute to TB eradication" and urged the government to reconsider its strategy.

Dr Fenwick said in a letter to UK Government chief scientific adviser Prof Sir Mark Walport, "Publications have invariably focused on changes in herd incidences of bTB, while the cost-benefit analyses of culling appear to be based purely upon the average costs associated with all herd breakdowns. Given the importance, extent and cost of [the RBCT], the FUW believes that Government has a duty to ensure that all impacts of the trials are comprehensively analysed and reported, rather than important decisions and conclusions being based upon what is, to all intents and purposes, a single measurement."

Earlier this year the Welsh government elected to scrap plans for a cull in the nation's Intensive Action Area in favour of a vaccination programme. The decision was made following a review of the science requested by Depty Environment Minister John Griffiths

In stark contrast to farming industry representatives, the Badger Trust has claimed that the environment Secretary's announcement "contained a shameful series of evasions and errors in seeking to justify the killing of badgers and the impractical methods the Coalition proposes to use,” though the Trust said it “hopes the Government will consider more carefully all the new issues that have emerged over the last few months."

The charity, which is still threatening further legal action after an initial challenge was rejected by the Court of Appeal in September, has called for "an open and transparent public review of all the issues including the costs, public safety, practicability, science, animal welfare and the emergence of alternatives to culling."

Badger Trust spokesperson Jack Reedy challenged some of the assertions made by Mr Paterson in his speech. He said there is no evidence that the badger population has increased since the last estimate in 1997 and questioned the claims that 'free shooting' is a "more effective culling method," as it has never before been officially tested, which is the ostensible reason for the 'trial culls.'

He concluded that, "In saying no other country had tackled bTB without addressing wildlife Mr Paterson, his predecessor and the farming organisations have forgotten that the United Kingdom did so after World War II, bringing the cattle toll down from 47,476 to a low point of 628 in 1979, without killing badgers."

The cull will be the subject of a debate in the House of Commons on Thursday 25th October

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