Dear Friends
Sadly, the Badger Cull looks set to continue into 2025. The Labour Government’s resolve to end has not yet translated into action. We're now asking you to sign a new petition aimed at government.
Protect the Wild’s Rob Pownall and Charlie Moores attended our scientific meeting in Oxford last November. The meeting looked at the Oxford-led science used to justify the badger cull and found that :
- Bovine TB (bTB) is a highly politicised disease
- Oxford's scientific evidence has been made to fit policy
- Oxford scientists won't speak out
- we need to put pressure on government and members of parliament
Rob and Charlie went away fired up and determined to launch a new petition aimed at government. A few weeks later their petition “End the Badger cull and adopt other approaches to bovine TB control” went live. Please sign Protect the Wilds’ petition.
Rob and Charlie explain why their petition is important:
- At 100k signatures it may trigger a government debate
- It is undoubtedly a rallying point.
- It will remind government that we aren’t going to sit back and wait for them to ‘do something’.
- And it is a way for thousands and thousands of us to have our voices heard.
The petitions message is simple and direct saying:
The Government’s TB Eradication Strategy allows the continued killing of badgers, a protected species, until the end of this Parliament, despite the Labour manifesto calling the cull “ineffective.”
We believe the badger cull is unjustified and must end.
Some research has suggested culling results in a reduction in bovine TB (bTB) in cattle. However, there are concerns about the methodology used. Other research, which has been peer reviewed and published, shows no evidence that culling badgers reduces confirmed bTB in cattle. Over 230,000 badgers — many healthy — have been killed, disrupting ecosystems without solid scientific justification.
We call for an immediate end to the cull and the implementation of cattle focused measures to control bTB, rather than what we see as scapegoating wildlife.