Shouting won't help
There are rumours that Environment Secretary Hilary Benn is about to say yeay, nay or let’s keep thinking, to those demanding a badger cull in England.
Members of The Badger Trust are amongst those who believe his decision will be announced this week. Last week’s Farmers Weekly, a newspaper keeping its ear close to the ground on the issue, agreed.
Farmers are urging the government to follow the example set by the Welsh Assembly and give the go-ahead to the widespread extermination of badgers, a measure they believe will stamp out TB in their cattle.
Those who have taken the time to understand the science say they are wrong. Killing some badgers will frighten those surviving into moving elsewhere and taking the disease with them, if they are infected.
But suddenly, the issue has become less clear-cut. It emerged yesterday that Elin Jones, the Welsh Assembly’s Rural Affairs Minister, had backtracked from an announcement in April which sounded very much like the go-ahead for a cull in Wales.
In a letter to the Badger Trust, her lawyers said that Ms Jones had not authorised a cull nor identified “any area in which the culling of badgers would be appropriate.”
Stranger still was the NFU’s suggestion yesterday, at a hearing of Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee, that a biodiversity target be set for badgers, so that farmers could be rewarded for managing their land to increase badger numbers.
Too much attention, the NFU argued, was being paid to farmland bird declines when there were many other species that needed help. Why not have a target for butterflies, otters and badgers the NFU said.
If Mr Benn sanctions a badger cull, we may well soon need a target for raising badger numbers, since they are a protected and much loved native species.
But if he says no, basing his decision on the science rather than the shouting, he might thank the NFU for its suggestion but instead propose some more appropriate action.
The best way to stamp out bovine TB is to vaccinate badgers and cattle against the disease. There are no vaccines yet but more Government money for research would hasten vaccine development.
In the meantime, rigorous testing and control of cattle movements, and fences to help separate badgers from cattle and cattle feed, would help stem this serious disease. This is what the NFU should be promoting to its members.