Following the release on Friday of findings from the Independent Expert Panel tasked with assessing pilot badger culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire last year, calls to abandon the controversial cull policy have grown in volume.

image expired

The Panel's report was due for release at the beginning of the year, but had been delayed before key findings were leaked to the BBC. Experts found that the cull had failed to meet targets for numbers of badgers killed and humaneness criteria set out by the government. However, the experts said no evidence of threats to public safety had been discovered.

On Saturday (1 March), Green Party animal spokesperson Caroline Allen submitted an emergency motion for debate at the Green Party conference, calling on the Government to announce an end to its culling policy. The motion "calls on DEFRA to take immediate steps to adopt evidence-based strategies to tackle bovine TB, such as vaccination and improved biosecurity."

Allen, a South-West candidate in upcoming European elections and a veterinarian, raised concerns about the way humaneness was monitored, which she said meant badgers who were injured and returned to their setts may not have been accounted for in the figures assessed by the IEP.

Also on Friday (28 February), 'compliance reports' released by Natural England following a freedom of information request cast more light on culling practice. The reports, which cover 41 visits by Natural England monitoring personnel to the cull zones in the initial six week cull period (both culls were extended for several weeks) show that, of nine badgers killed during monitoring, three were shot incorrectly, with two being wounded, chased and shot a second time.  

In making its assessment, the IEP will only examine data from the first six weeks of culling, though the cull period was extended to nine weeks in Somerset, and 11 weeks in Gloucestershire. Levels of bovine TB were not studied in either badgers or cattle, as culls were intended to trial the methodology of shooting free running badgers. More expensive caged shooting was brought in during the initial six weeks, due to the low success rate of 'controlled shooting'.

The government and NFU have not commented on the leaked findings; spokespeople last week said that there would be no official comment until the Panel's report has been formally released, though a Defra spokesperson said, "We knew there would be lessons to be learned from the first year of the pilot culls which is why we're looking forward to receiving the panel's recommendations." Both Defra and NFU maintain that culling badgers is 'another tool in the box' to ensuring bTB is brought under control in England.

However, anti-cull campaigners have drawn attention to official figures showing reductions in bTB instances in Wales, where tighter cattle controls and a vaccination programme were brought in instead of culling in 2012.

Speaking on Saturday, Green Party spokesperson Allen said, "Results from the Independent Expert Panel confirming the cull was inhumane and ineffective are no surprise. The failure to kill the allotted number of badgers, with less than half the required numbers being killed in the initial six week period means the risk of perturbation is increased, meaning this cull may even make the disease problem worse."

Caroline Allen added, "Defra and Owen Paterson refused to listen to experts and resolved to plough on, wasting millions of pounds on an ideological crusade against our… wildlife."

Badger culling will be discussed in Parliament next week. Anti-cull groups are encouraging supporters to contact their MPs ahead of the back bench business debate scheduled for 13th March.