During the Pilot Badger Cull in late 2013 I took part in the patrols and since then I have become active in GABS (Gloucestershire against Badger Shooting) and I am now team leader of WBP Legal Liaison.
During the Pilot Cull I was very honoured to meet Brian May, he came out with the Wounded Badger Patrol one night and he is a great supporter of the anti cull movement.
We are winning the argument comprehensively with the public against killing badgers," says Nick Berry, one of the founders of GABS, "but there seems to be a lot of work still to do with our MPs." GABS is worried that government politicians are ignoring the science and the basic facts about culling in favour of politics and the narrow interests of core rural supporters. "All the science and wildlife organisations predicted this cull would fail," continues Nick Berry, "and now the government's own Independent Experts Panel (IEP) has condemned the cull as ineffective and inhumane. No amount of spin will alter the facts."
"Specious comparisons with other countries are irrelevant and highly misleading. Britain virtually eradicated bTB in the 1950s and 60s by cattle restrictions alone, without killing a single badger. This method has seen the current trend in infections reversed even before the current cull began. In Wales, where cattle controls are being combined with badger vaccination there has been a 23% drop in cattle infections, and we are determined that the same should happen in the rest of the UK."
GABS also point to the enormous cost of the cull compared to vaccination. "The current costs for culling are over £4,000 per badger whereas the estimates for a volunteer assisted vaccination programme are as low as £150 per badger," concludes Nick Berry. "Culling badgers is a huge diversion from the real causes and solutions to Bovine TB. The government needs to stop wasting our tax money on something that patently does not work and concentrate on what does work. Our MPs need to know that we will not tolerate this futile and expensive cull any longer."
To find out more information on GABS and The Wounded Badger Patrol
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