Concerned Conservationist

How have we come to this? An all out war on our most iconic of species – the badger!

This year the government extended its misguided and politically-driven policy on slaughtering badgers by granting licences for a cull in a further 11 zones, bringing the total to 54 regions in England where healthy badgers will be mercilessly shot. The majority of them will be healthy badgers.

Last week, Warwickshire Badger Group held a webinar to discuss the badger and its ecology. Speakers included renowned tropical field biologist and and naturalist, Dr Ian Redmond, who spoke about the importance of the badger in the landscape as nature’s engineer as well as contributing to the health of woodlands as a natural seed disperser. All of this has been lost on our government in its zeal to exterminate a protected species.

Also joining the panel were Karl Curtis, Director of Reserves and Public Engagement at Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, Dominic Dyer who is the CEO of the Badger Trust, Mark Pawsey, MP for Rugby and Craig Fellowes, a founder member of Warwickshire Badger Group and a Wildlife Crime Officer of many years standing.

The Demonisation of a Protected Species

As a canid conservationist, I have studied attitudes towards wolves. They have suffered centuries of persecution and there is no let up today. Wolves are still being exterminated in the US as a result of government policy there. Whole packs wiped out to protect ranchers interests. Successive US governments have got away with predator eradication policy against the wolf because they have been highly successful in demonising the species. We are witnessing the same happening to the badger.

The badger is a protected species, but because it is now maligned and demonised there are some farmers who think it is OK to destroy setts with impunity and prosecutions against criminals who pitch badgers against dogs in brutal and savage fights are rarely prosecuted.

And then there is the legal persecution. In Warwickshire, 2223 badgers are targeted to be killed this year. The government states it wants to reduce populations by 60 to 70% but they have done no research whatsoever on population numbers. What this means is that in many areas we are risking seeing population collapse which could lead to the badger being put on the IUCN’s Endangered or Critically Endangered List. This is an international scandal. Here we are with a government that tries to advise other countries on species protection and at the same time is systematically slaughtering the most iconic species in Britain!

The UK Government has scapegoated the badger to protect the interests of powerful rural lobbying groups – farming and hunting – with no regard at all to the ecology of the badger, or the role it serves in maintaining healthy habitats. Meanwhile, they are paying scant attention to the real issues. These include the lack of biosecurity on farms, including those with known outbreaks, inadequate and ineffective testing, and unrestricted cattle movements.

The lack of biosecurity is shocking. Slurry and muck spreading continues unabated, despite the bTB bacterium being able to survive for months in manure and in the soil. And just as shocking is allowing unfettered access to farms and farmland, even those that have known outbreaks. Hunts are already out in great numbers now, even breaking the rule of 30 let along abiding by the Rule of 6 from which they have been granted an exemption. Last week, the Warwickshire Hunt was on a farm in Ufton clearly mingling with the cattle there. How is this allowed to continue happening when we are in the grip of a crisis on farms as a result of bTB? Why is no-one in the government questioning this? Why are the hunts not being banned from farms?

Hunting with hounds on farms with cattle is clearly a biosecurity risk, and yet the badger gets the blame for “spreading bTB” even though it has been scientifically proven that this is not the case.

We now have a situation where a disease is being spread into the countryside by an industry that refuses to clean up its act, and business continues as usual for hunts that are not only breaking the law by hunting foxes and other creatures with hounds but are now also a potential vector for spreading bTB and other diseases. And yet, the Government continues with its war on wildlife and extirpating one of our most loved species. This situation needs to change before it is too late, not just for the badger but also for their habitats. It is well documented that biodiversity suffered drastically through the extirpation of the wolf. Do we really want to see this happening here in the UK? Have we not lost enough of our biodiversity already?