Badger Cull Postponed – Dec ’12

The NFU has taken the difficult to decision to request that the pilot badger culls in West Somerset and West Gloucestershire should be postponed until summer 2013.  Peter Kendal has written to all the NFU members explaining the decision.  It appears the main issue is the lack of time now available to complete the six week continuous cull before the closed season takes effect.  The police had requested that the cull be delayed until after the Olympics and Paralympics, further delays were then imposed due to the legal challenges from the Badger Trust, and on top of this farmers have been put under pressure this summer due to the extreme weather conditions.

In addition to these delays the latest surveys have revealed there are significantly more badgers within the pilot areas than originally thought.  With the requirement that at least 70% of the badgers in the area must be removed to ensure the cull reduces TB in cattle those responsible for the cull could not be confident that it would be possible to hit this target given the lateness of the season.  Therefore, the directors of the companies co-ordinating the cull, along with the NFU, decided to postpone the cull until as early as possible next year and dulymade this request to DEFRA.

There is widespread belief that DEFRA were more than happy to agree to this request, given the large anti-cull campaign that has been seen.  There is some concern that this delay may eventually result in a cancellation as it provides more time for campaigners to exert pressure.  However, in a statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday 23^rd October the Environment Secretary Owen Paterson emphasised that there was no change in Government policy and that it remained ‘absolutely committed’ and would continue to work with the NFU to get the delivery of the policy right.  Time will tell.