Thousands of badgers suffer ‘immense pain’ in culls to control tuberculosis because many take longer than 5 MINUTES to die after being shot, campaigners claim
- Professor Ranald Munro is the former chair of group that assessed badger culls
- He and 19 other animal welfare campaigners have written to the government
- They claim badgers suffered ‘immense pain’ after being shot as part of the cull
As many as 9,000 badgers took longer than five minutes to die after being shot as part of culls to control TB in cattle, a former government adviser has claimed.
Professor Ranald Munro and 19 other vets, scientists and animal welfare campaigners have written to Natural England to warn them that their culls are causing ‘huge suffering’ and are ineffective in reducing TB in cattle.
The campaigners claimed that thousands of badgers were taking longer than five minutes to die after being shot, leading to ‘immense pain’.
The group also revealed that TB rates had increased in Gloucestershire, which is the first cull area.
A freedom of information request showed how the number of new herds confirmed to have TB in the region rose from 10 in 2017 to 23 in 2018.
Professor Ranald Munro has written to Natural England to warn them that their badger culls are causing ‘huge suffering’ and are ineffective in controlling TB in cattle (stock)
The other areas where the cull is carried out include Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Wiltshire, Herefordshire, Cheshire and Somerset.
More areas are set to be announced later this week.
Speaking to the BBC, Professor Munro said that around 40,000 badgers have been culled so far this year.
He said: ‘The numbers are huge, they really are. If you look at the likelihood of not dying within five minutes of being shot, you are looking at 3,000 badgers having suffered immense pain at a minimum.
‘It could be as high as 9,000. There is a huge issue of suffering in these badgers.’
The FOI request also revealed that in 2014, 20 per cent of culls were supervised by Natural England staff.
This dropped to 0.4 per cent in 2018.
The professor and his group also revealed that TB rates have increased in Gloucestershire, which is the first cull area (stock)
In their letter, the group said: ‘We are unconvinced that the culling of large numbers continues to be justified in the view of recent data showing zero disease control benefits after six years of culling of badgers in Gloucestershire.’
Professor Munro is the former chair of an independent group appointed by the government to assess its culls.
His group revealed in 2014 that 23 per cent of badgers shot took more than five minutes to die.
This prompted them to conclude that the culls were inhumane, something that they reported to the government at the time.
However, the Department for Food and Rural Affairs then disbanded the group, saying that its work had been completed.
In response, many of the experts involved said that ministers were ‘willfully’ ignoring them.
Another review, from 2018 and led by Sir Charles Godfray, concluded that badger culling can only play a minor role in reducing Bovine TB in cattle.
Last year, it was revealed that 32,601 badgers were killed in 30 areas of England between September 3 and November 1 as part of the controversial cull.
Responding to the figures, Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Badger Trust, said the cull was a ‘cruel, costly and ineffective policy’.
‘This is the largest destruction of a protected species in living memory and it comes after a record breaking summer heatwave that has already led to a significant reduction in the badger population in England.
‘By the end of 2018, the Government will have spent over £50 million of public funds killing over 67,000 badgers which could push the species to the verge of local extinction in areas of England where it has lived since the Ice Age.’
