Badger cull 'mindless', say scientists [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Badger cull 'mindless', say scientists

Government's chief scientist among those who dispute evidence used to justify killings, which may begin imminently

Damian Carrington and Jamie Doward
The Observer, Saturday 13 October 2012 15.02 EDT

Britain's top animal disease scientists have launched a devastating attack on the government's "mindless" badger cull, accusing ministers of failing to tell the truth and demanding the immediate abandonment of the killings.

The intervention by dozens of the nation's most senior experts, in a letter in the Observer, comes as farmers prepare to begin the cull in Gloucestershire and Somerset, possibly as early as tomorrow. The government's own chief scientist has refused to back the killings.

More than 30 eminent animal disease experts describe the cull as a "costly distraction" that risks making the problem of tuberculosis in cattle worse and that will cost far more than it saves.

TB in English cattle is an increasing problem, with the 26,000 infected animals slaughtered in 2011 costing £90m in compensation. Owen Paterson, the environment secretary, argues that more than a decade of research shows that culling badgers, which can carry bovine TB, could reduce infections by 12%-16% if undertaken intensively for many years and over large areas.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/13/badger-cull-mindless