Leaked minutes from a meeting of the British Veterinary Association's (BVA) Ethics and Welfare Group suggest that the Association's support for badger culling could be faltering.

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BVA's support for culling was called into question earlier this year, when Defra announced that it would not be allowing independent experts to oversee the cull, after a government-appointed panel judged that the 2013 culls had failed on both humaneness and effectiveness grounds.

Having distanced itself from the culling policy in early 2014, BVA then restated support for Defra's pilots in May, when it refused to back a legal challenge against two pilot badger culls in South West England, which Defra and the NFU argue are a necessary part of the government's bovine TB eradication strategy.  

This week, leaked BVA minutes show members of the Association's Ethics and Welfare Group are concerned that Defra has not supplied updates on the implementation of recommendations made by the Independent Expert Panel (IEP) in February, or published any information on the second year of its pilot culls.

Some of the group's members also reported that their views had not been represented in the Association's public communications; these members suggested that a "fragile consensus" on the issue of badger culling no longer existed within the veterinary organisation, and argued that BVA should no longer support the culls given the lack of transparency and independent analysis.

BVA support 'should not be taken for granted' by Defra

Even so, BVA President John Blackwell responded to the leak by saying the BVA continues to support the deeply controversial policy, though he did offer some caveats to that support. The BVA president said, "We have made it clear that we cannot continue to support the use of controlled shooting to deliver culling unless it can be demonstrated that it can be delivered humanely, effectively and safely."

He continued, "We have made it very clear to Defra that our ongoing support should not be taken for granted and that we will make our own assessment of the data when it is published. We would encourage Defra to make the data available as soon as possible so that we can analyse in detail whether the use of controlled shooting in the second year of the pilots has been both humane and effective."

Blackwell added that BVA asked Defra to implement the IEP's recommendations ahead of the 2014 culls, and has since called on the Environment Secretary "to make provision for independent analysis of the results."

He admitted, "It is no secret that some of our members are frustrated by the lack of independent analysis this year and we are disappointed that it has not been put in place to give confidence to our members and the wider public."

Also responding to the leak, animal welfare group Humane Society International's veterinary advisor Professor Alastair MacMillan said, "HSI UK has long been warning that the BVA's public endorsement of the badger cull fails to reflect the misgivings of many veterinarians, and in fact a significant number of vets do not share the BVA's support for the cull at all. The BVA's call for independent analysis of the cull has been ignored by DEFRA and it's clear that many vets within the BVA believe that the organisation was wrong to support the second year of culling under those circumstances."

He continued, "Just as the NFU's pro-cull stance has never represented all farmers, neither does the BVA's position represent all vets. We already know from last year's data that the badger cull causes significant and prolonged animal suffering, and that many vets agree with the majority of other scientists that shooting badgers is ineffective in controlling cattle TB in the first place."

"The public and politicians can now see quite clearly the strength of veterinary opposition to the government's badger cull and Defra can no longer sustain the pretence that it has the full backing of vets."

Prof MacMillan added that HSI is concerned that Defra may publish all data from the 2014 culls at the same time as the department makes an announcement on future culls, which would not allow for "proper independent analysis of humaneness or effectiveness".

The latest bTB figures have shown continued reductions in the rate of bovine TB in the south west of England – outside the badger cull zones – and in November, Defra's Chief Scientist told delegates at a conference being hosted by the NFU that research suggests less than 6 percent of new bTB outbreaks come directly from badgers. Professor Ian Boyd stated that research from Imperial college, London has shown that cattle, not badgers, are the key cause of the spread of bovine TB.

HSI's prof MacMillan added that the "badger cull policy is devoid of any real scientific support or credibility, and we only hope that DEFRA abandons the cull once and for all."