Vets call for an end to shooting of badgers

The association for British vets has called for an end to the shooting of badgers, claiming that, two years in, the four-year pilot scheme to cull the animals has not shown it is an effective or humane method of killing them.

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) said it still supports the government’s controversial cull as necessary to control the spread of TB in cattle, but said projects in Somerset and Gloucestershire should be completed using the “tried and tested” method of trapping the badgers and then shooting them.

The BVA concluded that the results had not demonstrated conclusively that “controlled shooting”, when badgers are picked off in the wild, could work without cruelty. An independent expert panel had previously concluded from the cull’s first year that controlled shooting did not work very well.

BVA president John Blackwell said he was concerned that a disproportionate focus on the cull meant that other methods for controlling TB, including vaccination, were being forgotten: “BVA supported the pilots to test the use of controlled shooting, but data from the first two years of culling has not demonstrated conclusively that controlled shooting can be carried out effectively and humanely based on the criteria that were set.

“We need to control the infection in the wildlife population, and badger culling must form part of the comprehensive strategy for tackling bovine TB. We are therefore calling for the culls in West Somerset and West Gloucestershire to be completed using the tried and tested method of cage trapping and shooting, and for culling to be rolled out to other carefully selected areas using this method.”

Animal welfare campaigners opposed to the cull welcomed the BVA’s statement but said its support for cage-trapping and shooting was “regrettable”.

Humane Society International (HSI) UK’s chief executive, Claire Bass, added: “The BVA’s decision provides further confirmation that the badger cull has been cruel and ineffective. But cage trapping and shooting is not the answer. Not only will it not stop the spread of TB, it will cost a fortune in the process. Last year it took 12,957 traps to catch 302 badgers in the two cull areas, a large majority of which didn’t even have TB.

“So if the government switches to trap and shoot and sets similar cull targets this year, it’ll have to foot the bill for some 30,000 traps, and a small army to set them.”