We delivered our petition and open letter to the University Department of Biology yesterday. It had just over 10,000 signatures. We timed this  to give the scientists time to consider our plea for action before the DEFRA consultation closes on Monday 22nd April. We hope that some of them will take this opportunity to formally comment on the governments proposals.

THANK YOU

We are completely overwhelmed by the massive support you’ve given our petition. We never imagined it would get so many signatures, have many views or that so many people would be willing to ‘chip in' to help promote it.

It shows that the vast majority of people in Britain remain strongly opposed to the badger cull. It tells DEFRA and Ministers that their plan to keep on killing badgers cull is NOT ACCEPTABLE. 

By sharing, you’ve help spread the word that the badger cull is not over. It is a LIFE or DEATH issue for this much loved, native mammal.

The latest cull figures show that badgers are already close to local extinction in parts  of England.

If DEFRA gives the go ahead to epidemiological cull licenses  local extinction becomes a near certainty. Yet DEFRA has ALWAYS known that killing every badger in the country won’t stop bovine TB in the herd. 

It is ALL about the science. 

Sadly, the scientific debate has become highly polarised between pro-cull government statisticians on the one side, and opponents of the badger cull on the other. This allows politicians to pick and choose 'policy based evidence'

In November 2023, a senior Oxford scientist - Professor David Macdonald – accepted the Badger Trust’s invitation to review and comment on the current state of knowledge. Our petition asks experts from Oxford University to take a fresh look at data from 10 years of culling.  We ask them to give a neutral, informed, and balanced verdict on the scientific justification for badger epidemiological culls.

This is a critical time. Soon it may be too late for the badgers.

Peter Hambly, the executive director of the Badger Trust has warned:  "when they can't find badgers to kill you know we are near local extinction events. After 250,000 years of badgers on this land, we may be nearing the end of the badger in some areas"

Oxfordshire epidemiological cull licenses could be issued this year. Oxfordshire’s badgers are under threat as never before.