The extension of the badger cull is horribly cruel – and it won’t help farmers

Brian May

The government’s chief scientific adviser admits the animals may be responsible for just 6% of bovine TB. There are better solutions than yet more killing

Friday 26 August 201609.00 BSTLast modified on Friday 26 August 201612.40 BST

Tuesday was a sad day for our wild animals. The BBC reported that the badger cull will be extended into five new areas, although the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) would not confirm that the selections had been made.

News that the already failed cull would be expanded is particularly disappointing to those who hoped that a new government would bring new wisdom. This tragic development is born of a distortion of the real facts, supported by false promises and propaganda heaped on to the farming community.

There is mounting evidence that badgers have little to do with the spread of bovine tuberculosis. And there are no grounds whatsoever for believing that badger killing has made the slightest impact on the disease, but the government is seemingly pressing ahead, cheered on by the National Farmers Union.

People close to this machinery will tell you that it’s hard to see a clear line between the government and the NFU; and this in itself has a bad smell. No thought whatsoever is given to the suffering of the badgers, even though the government’s own independent expert panel delivered a verdict that the cull was neither humane nor effective. In fact, the shameful response from David Cameron’s government was to ensure there was no independent panel for the next rounds of culls.

Read on  

Brian May fails in bid for judicial review on badger culling

The Queen guitarist and animal rights campaigner has his appeal against High Court ruling rejected

By Leon Watson

8:58AM GMT 27 Oct 2015

Queen guitarist Brian May has failed in his bid for a judicial review into the legalities of badger culling.

The animal rights campaigner has had his appeal against a High Court ruling that turned down his first judicial review request rejected.

May had persued legal action after badger culls began in Dorset and continued in Somerset and Gloucestershire.

May's Save Me Trust said the government went against its own culling policy and would explore other legal challenges.

Brian May brings Team Badger to London to try and save Britain's badgers  Photo: Eddie Mulholland/The Telegraph

The government and the National Farmers' Union said culling badgers would curb tuberculosis in cattle.

In August the news of an extended badger cull prompted the trust to lodge an unsuccessful request for a judicial review in September.

"This awful policy must be put to bed now, in favour of a policy that really will address the TB problem in cattle."

The trust accused the government of going against Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) policy, published in 2011, "which promised no culling would take place if the incidence of bTB was falling in a specific place".

Save Me Trust boss Anne Brummer said Defra figures showed the incidence of bovine TB was declining in both Dorset and Gloucestershire three years before the culls began.

Continued…

Far-Right Extremists Chased Through London by Women Dressed as Badgers

A rally by extremists from the British National Party and the English Defence League was dwarfed by opposition campaigners staging rival protests in London on Saturday 1 June.

Shortly after lunch, a die-hard core of around 50 BNP and EDL supporters was confronted outside parliament by hundreds of activists from anti-extremist groups including Unite Against Fascism and Hope Not Hate.

But in the event, both groups were upstaged by agitators of a different stripe. Decked out from head to toe in black and white, the group that won the day were campaigning neither for race war nor ethnic equality, but an end to the government's cull on badgers.

And it was the pro-badger campaigners who appeared to steal a march on the political activists.

Young women dressed in fake fur were seen chasing doughty nationalist supporters down London's Whitehall as a large number of security forces in iridescent jackets looked on from police lines.

Continued

Brian May leads thousands in march against badger cull

Thousands of animal welfare supporters took to the streets of central London to protest against the controversial badger-cull policy, which came into effect yesterday. Many of the protesters were dressed in black and white and chanted "Shame on Defra" and "Stop the cull". Some were walking dogs dressed in badger costumes.

Under the new regulations, up to 5,094 free-running badgers can now be shot by trained marksmen: 2,932 in west Gloucestershire and 2,162 in west Somerset. A third licence is being considered for Dorset.

The protesters were led by the former Queen guitarist Brian May, who delivered a 234,000-signature petition against the cull to Downing Street.

The cull aims to reduce outbreaks of TB in dairy and beef herds, which led to the slaughter of 28,000 cattle in England last year. Culling 70 per cent of badgers in a particular area, cull supporters say, can reduce the disease by 16 per cent. Protesters argue that the cull is ineffective and unethical.

A YouGov poll showed that 34 per cent oppose the policy, while 29 per cent are in favour of it. Labour opposes it and has tabled an Opposition Day debate on the policy for Wednesday.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/brian-may-leads-thousands-in-march-against-badger-cull-8640810.html

Brian May from Queen unveils Dorset woodland vision

Queen guitarist Brian May has talked about his vision to turn a plot of Dorset farmland into a woodland wildlife sanctuary.

His team will be planting 100,000 trees on 155 acres (62 hectares) of land near Bere Regis village in September.

He had two "packed" meetings with about 150 villagers on Monday night to discuss his plans.

"It was great, everyone was very positive and we had some great ideas from people," he said.

There are plenty of people who want to discredit me and I have become accustomed to that.”

Village school plans

May, a known wildlife campaigner, said: "We're turning land which has been used for farming back to original woodland, that's the long term plan.

"We're adjacent to a piece of woodland which I've owned for a number of years anyway so it's an extension of an already existing scheme to try and recreate an ancient landscape."

The rock guitarist, who actively campaigns against fox hunting and badger culling said he also wanted "to exclude hunting and to manage the land in a more humane fashion than has been the tradition".

Woodland pic:  An image showing what Brian May's woodland could look like in 20 years' time.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-21427374

Queen guitarist Brian May criticises badger cull

Queen guitarist Brian May has spoken out against a planned cull of badgers in the West Country.

He was speaking at a meeting of The League Against Cruel Sports in Taunton on Friday evening.

On 12 July a legal bid by The Badger Trust to block a cull in England failed in the High Court.

The cull is likely to begin in Somerset and Gloucestershire later in the year. Mr May called for vaccination of cattle rather than a cull.

The government says that culling will help combat cattle tuberculosis, which costs the UK more than £100m per year.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said TB infection forced the slaughter of 25,000 cattle in 2010 alone.

Defra has said it is investing in developing useable vaccines but these were "years away".

Any cattle vaccine would need to be tested, trialled and approved for use by the European Union.

Continued:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18938104