Looking beyond the badger cull

A DECADE-LONG policy of badger culling to tackle bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in England will come to a close, the Government has confirmed, as pressure mounts from campaigners and cross-party MPs to adopt science-led, nonlethal alternatives.

- LEWIS CLARKE

In a passionate and at times emotionally charged Westminster Hall debate earlier this month MPs responded to a public petition calling for an immediate end to badger culling and a renewed focus on cattle testing, biosecurity and vaccination.

The petition, created by Robert Pownall, of the group Protect the Wild, attracted over 102,000 signatures.

The Government has confirmed that 2025 would mark the final year of new industry-led cull licences, a move welcomed by campaigners and MPs critical of a policy that has seen over 230,000 badgers killed since 2013.

Dame Angela Eagle, Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs, confirmed: "I will be clear from the outset that this Government are committed to ending the badger cull. We stand by that commitment, and I say again that the badger cull is ending."

She added that only one cull licence would remain active after this season, covering a TB hot spot in a low-risk area, and stressed that "by the end of this season there will be no cull licences in any high-intensity or edge area".

The Government aims to replace culling with a combination of enhanced cattle testing, better farm biosecurity and mass badger and cattle vaccination, as part of a strategy to eradicate bTB in England by 2038.

A refreshed eradication strategy is currently being co-designed with farmers, vets, scientists and conservationists, and will draw on the 2023 update to the Godfray Review, which highlighted the importance of nonlethal interventions and reducing contact between badgers and cattle.

The debate was opened by Irene Campbell, Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, who criticised the cull as unjustified.

"Badgers have been part of the British Isles for at least 250,000 years," she said. "Culling them is a cruel and ineffective way to tackle the disease."