Humane Society International, which is campaigning against the government-sponsored trial badger culls taking place in the South-West, has accused Farming Minister David Heath of misleading a fellow MP over the controversial policy.

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The charity claims that Lib Dem minister Heath "misrepresented information" relating to the release of sensitive cull information and that the department has failed to release information on how the cull will be assessed for humaneness, despite having been ordered to do so by the Information Commission, which governs freedom of information disputes in the UK.

Trial badger culls began in Gloucestershire last week and in Somerset on 27th August. Defra claims information gathered during the culls will go to inform the government's bovine TB eradication strategy, but serious questions have been raised about the policy's effectiveness, including by the expert architects of previous culling trials. 

On Friday, Humane Society International's (HSI) Executive Director attacked the environment department over its lack of transparency, including its failure to discuss methods for assessing the humaneness of shooting free-running badgers.  

The previously untested methodology, first termed free-shooting and later amended to the connotatively more inoffensive 'controlled shooting', has attracted questions and criticism alike, and it has been suggested that less than 5 percent of badgers targeted in cull zones will be collected for examination during the pilot culls, a total deemed woefully inadequate by animal welfare groups opposing culling.

HSI claims Defra cull plans lack transparency

On Friday, HSI claimed that, in a written response to a question posed by Adrian Sanders MP on 2nd Sept, Mr Heath said Defra had heavily redacted a document on assessing badgers' suffering before releasing it for public distribution because "not doing so could adversely affect public safety and/or damage the environment." Heath added that, "Non-disclosure of information in this manner is permitted and is in accordance with the Environmental Information Regulations, which include specific exceptions."

However, the charity maintains that the assessment of badger suffering should have been released last month, following a ruling by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which found Defra had been wrong to use this excuse for non-disclosure in early August. Executive Director Mark said the farming minister should have been have been fully aware of this ruling at the time of his response.

Jones said, "Farming Minister David Heath owed a fellow Member of Parliament complete and up-to-date information on a subject that has aroused such strong public feelings and put so many animals in jeopardy."

He continued, "DEFRA has tried to keep secret as much information as possible about its badger cull policy and we fear that [Environment secretary] Mr Paterson is so hell bent on launching his mass badger slaughter across large swathes of England, that he won't even allow MPs to debate the results of the pilot culls."

Defra has categorically denied the animal welfare group's allegations; a Defra spokesperson said on Monday, "David Heath did not mislead Parliament in his answer to this question. Defra's position with regards to release of this information remains the same until a decision is made to appeal or comply with the ICO Decision."

The spokesperson added, "The evaluation criteria, as agreed with the Independent Panel of Experts, will be published by Defra in due course, along with a full account and assessment of the pilot culls.”

Meanwhile, Conservative MP for St Albans Anne Main has tabled an Early Day Motion calling for the badger cull to be subject to a debate in parliament before the government rolls out the policy any further. Defra officials had stated that ministers would merely report on findings from the trial culls in Parliament, but a large number of MPs want the chance to continue the debate. By Monday (9th September), 127 MPs had signed the document.