Shocking badger cull film on BBC will prompt anger

 Jane Dalton,  The Independent  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/badger-cull-brian-may-bbc2-documentary-b2601021.html

Shocking badger cull film on BBC will prompt anger like Post Office scandal drama, claims Queen star Brian May

Queen guitarist Brian May says a “shocking “ film he has made dismantling some of the science behind the long-running badger cull will provoke the same outrage in viewers as the Post Office scandal drama.

The programme, which comes two days after the government performed a U-turn on its pre-election pledge to halt the cull, contains “dynamite” revelations, according to one scientist who has seen it.

Sir Brian says the broadcast on BBC2 today at 9pm will change cattle farming forever by helping farmers defeat bovine Tuberculosis (bTB), saving their cattle and their livelihoods.

Brian May says the programme has to be shocking (Getty Images)

It is estimated more than 230,000 badgers have been killed since the badger cull began in England in 2013, in an attempt to eradicate bTB, whose spread governments have blamed on badgers.

Filming for the programme looks at how slurry can spread the disease and how specialist vet Dick Sibley drastically reduced bTB at Gatcombe Farm in Devon through sanitation techniques.

Farming industry bodies have expressed alarm at the programme. National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw wrote to the BBC before the broadcast, disputing the science in the documentary.

He said: “I am also extremely concerned the impact this programme will have on the mental health of farmers who are still impacted by this terrible disease on farm.”

The farmer-funded Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) said it feared the show risked oversimplifying a complex issue, “potentially misleading viewers by placing undue blame on cattle”.

But the programme-makers say the “heartbreaking” testaments of farmers featured show government policy has failed them.

Sir Brian said: “A lot of people who have seen it have said they felt outraged like they did after seeing the Post Office documentary.”

That documentary, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, prompted nationwide anger, leading to wrongly convicted subpostmasters being cleared and compensation payments fast-tracked.

At least 230,000 English badgers have been killed (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The 77-year-old added: “It’s pretty shocking, but it had to be… Yes – some will pour disbelief and abuse in our heads, but history will prove us right. And our revelations will help farmers solve a horrific problem which has so far resisted solution.”

He said he and his Save Me Trust charity believed they could finally establish the “absolute innocence of badgers and the insanity of killing them”.

The trust says the culls are cruel to farmers, cattle and badgers.

This week, government body Natural England launched a consultation on a new round of badger culling in Cumbria, and it is understood others in Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire or Oxfordshire could be next.

The Labour government is relying on the same civil servants for bTB advice as the Tories did, and wants earlier reports to be redone, according to longtime badger campaigner and Lib Dem former election candidate Dominic Dyer.

“None of them will put their careers on the line and admit they were wrong,” said Dominic Dyer.

The Badger Trust said government departments were “not fit for purpose” and needed an overhaul to end misinformation and confusion for farmers.

“Defra has knowingly focused on an ineffective badger culling policy in an unsuccessful attempt to control bTB,  whilst failing to provide vital information and support to farmers and vets to help them get out of this situation,” it said.

The Badger Crowd has crowdfunded to launch a judicial review to challenge badger culling, to which the government is due to respond next week.

Peter Hambly, chief executive of the Badger Trust, said: “It is clear that, like everyone else involved in this debacle, the farmers have been badly let down by misinformation and distractions.”

The AHDB said it worried that the disease control measures highlighted in the programme are portrayed as a universal solution but that they are unrealistic for farms to implement.

“TB transmission varies significantly from farm to farm and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this devastating disease. It has come to light that unfortunately, the suggested solution promoted has not been effective,” it said.

Natural England has licensed cull extensions to kill up to 28,000 badgers this autumn, according to ecologist Tom Langton, of the Badger Crowd, who said the BBC programme included “dynamite” revelations.

Minister for food security and rural affairs Daniel Zeichner said: “Bovine tuberculosis has been a tragedy for famers, vets and conservationists with thousands of cattle lost to the disease and badgers culled.”

Tackling the disease was his top priority, he said, adding: “I am clear that we will beat bTB and end the cull once and for all, as we committed to doing in our manifesto.

“I will be working at pace and in partnership with farmers, vets, conservationists and scientists to bring step change to build an ambitious eradication package that protects both livelihoods and wildlife and stamps out this awful disease.”

The Labour Party Lied To Voters: DEFRA Announces More Badger Culls

 Keir Starmer and Steve Reed met with farmers before the general election and were all smiles and handshakes. Odd for two men who detested the badger cull and wanted it stopped. 

I believe they, and that means the Labour Party is also tainted, made a deal with farmers for votes and to date both men and the Labour Party has refused to respond to voters asking what is going on.

They cannot stop the culls until 2026 as they are "honouring" contracts. What they mean is that rather than pay out for stopping the cull they are willing to see the 300,000 badgers already killed joined by thousands more if they can find them.

You see DEFRA has given a maximum number to be killed and a much lower number if there are not enough badgers found. That in itself indicates that the badger population is reaching or has reached a point that the Tory government and former Prime Minister Sunak wanted to achieve: the eradication of all badgers. 

We lose thousands each year on the roads. We do not know how many are killed illegally but we know it goes on and not just on private estates.

What I have warned about for the last few years is becoming a reality; eradication of badgers in England.

By the 2030s urban badgers will be all we have left and when that goes down in the history books Reed, Starmer and the Labour Party can be credited with completing the work of the Conservative government'. And lovers of killing animals get enough money to buy the new cars and purchase properties.

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Show your support for our call to End the Cull and Save Badgers

 

Please sign the petition

Following the publication of our report, Tackling Bovine TB Together, we call for an immediate end to all badger culls operated by the UK government in England. Will you join us?

Over 230,000 protected badgers, half the British population, have been killed. 

 

Badger setts across England are lying empty for the first time in history. One of our most iconic native wild animals is being wiped from parts of our landscape because of the badger cull. 

 

Just imagine a precious mammal that has thrived for 250,000 years in this land, wiped out entirely from parts of the country.

 

However, despite growing public and scientific opposition, the UK government is still focused on the ineffective and unproven ‘sledgehammer’ of badger culling to end bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in English cattle herds.

 

The UK government says the badger cull is a cornerstone of their policy to stop the spread of bTB. Yet cattle spread over 94% of bTB, so why blame badgers? Especially when every cow killed due to bTB has tested positive for the disease, and no one ever tests a badger. 

 

Cattle measures are the best way to control bTB: enhanced biosecurity, better cattle testing, and an effective cattle vaccine. Wales and Scotland do not cull badgers and have more success reducing bTB in cattle than England.

 

Solutions to bTB should be based on science, cost and animal welfare grounds. The badger cull fails on all of these.

 

The badger cull is an unnecessary and wasteful policy – a national wildlife tragedy at a time of critical nature depletion. We need to End The Cull.

 

Sign our petition using our simple form and help us save badgers. 

https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/end-the-cull/end-the-cull-petition

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