RSPCA: Government must "rule out badger cull once and for all"

The RSPCA is calling on the Government to rule out a badger cull once and for all. This follows the publication today of the most thorough and robust scientific study(1) ever produced on the effects of badger culling on the spread of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle.

"We know that there has been enormous pressure from those who favour a cull," says John Rolls, RSPCA director of animal welfare promotion. "We hope that they will all now read this study carefully and stop referring to less rigorous and anecdotal evidence. The Government is to be congratulated for resisting the emotive and financial arguments to cull before the research was published. We have consistently supported the view that any policy on badgers must be based on the sound, scientific evidence. We now have that evidence. The Government must now formally rule out a badger cull once and for all."

The Independent Scientific Group on bTB (ISG) was tasked by the Government with undertaking specific research on the effects of badger-culling on TB in cattle. The painstaking work took eight years, cost the lives of over 11,000 badgers and cost taxpayers £34 million.
Referring to the report’s findings, ISG chair Professor John Bourne told the BBC, "If they do embark on a badger culling policy, it is quite clear that will have no impact - direct impact or meaningful impact - on controlling the disease in cattle, and it could make it worse."(2)

Dr Julia Wrathall, head of the RSPCA’s farm animals department comments, "The RSPCA does not wish any animal to suffer. We share the farming industry’s desire to eliminate TB and nobody denies that some badgers have the disease. But a badger cull would be a colossal and dreadful mistake - for both cattle and badgers.

"The only way that a cull could have worked would have meant suffering on a massive scale," Dr. Wrathall continues. "Thousands upon thousands of healthy badgers would have been killed - with many likely to suffer and die an horrific death. In addition, a badger cull could have led to increased cattle infection - precisely the opposite effect of that desired by those who have been pressing for badger culling.

"The scientific evidence clearly shows that culling badgers in a local area actually increases TB infection in cattle in the surrounding areas, while achieving only a limited reduction in the immediate area of the cull.

"It’s also important to recognise that there is no option to cull only diseased badgers," adds Dr. Wrathall. "There is no reliable test for bTB in wild, free-roaming badgers. What’s more, available
evidence(3) shows that the vast majority of badgers are free from TB."

The public clearly opposes a cull. The Government’s own consultation ended only last year and received a record 47,474 responses - 95% of which opposed a cull.

"The measures to combat cattle-to-cattle infection have not been in place long enough for us to assess their effectiveness," says Dr Wrathall. "The latest element in the testing regime was introduced only four months ago.

"There is no doubt that dairy farmers are under huge pressure. We shall continue to press the Government for more welfare-focused financial support to the dairy industry. A healthy farming industry is also better equipped to provide good animal welfare."

John Rolls concludes, "A badger cull would never have been a long-term solution, unless we wanted to strive continually to exterminate badgers from large parts of the country. It would have made a nonsense of the legal protection of badgers. The Government now has solid science on which to rule out a cull. Their announcement has been a long time coming but it will be the right decision for all concerned."




Notes to Editors


1. Bourne, J. et al (2007), Bovine TB: The Scientific Evidence - A Science Base for a Sustainable Policy to Control TB in Cattle; An Epidemiological Investigation into Bovine Tuberculosis, Final Report of the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (Defra, London).
2. BBC Online, 18 June 2007.
3. The findings of a study of badger road traffic deaths in 7 counties were published in August 2005. The study - conducted for Defra - found that 6 out of 7 badgers tested negative for the disease. It also showed that - even in those parts of the country worst affected by bovine TB - most badgers test negative for the disease and there was no clear correlation between the levels of TB in cattle and badgers. The ISG’s report also found that on average only 12% of the badgers culled had TB (i.e. 88% didn’t).