From: Northern Ireland Badger Group [mailto:badgers@badgersni.org.
Sent: 19 September 2012 12:33
Subject: Badger cull in England
Dear all
You are probably aware of the public opposition to the Coalition government’s controversial plans to cull several thousand badgers by free shooting in England. This proposal is flawed at every level and has attracted strong criticism from all sectors, including senior scientists involved in TB research and previous badger culls. There is broad consensus that cattle and badger vaccination is the only viable strategy to eliminate bovine TB in GB and Ireland.
TB stakeholders in Northern Ireland, including (to their great credit) farming and veterinary sectors, have agreed a trap-vaccinate-release/remove strategy. This means that no healthy badger will be killed here.
By contrast, it is expected that the vast majority of badgers shot in England (around 85%) will be perfectly healthy – only as few as 2% are estimated to be capable of transmitting TB.
There is currently an e-petition opposing this pointless slaughter herehttp://epetitions.direct.gov.
You can find more information here http://justdosomething.org.uk/
The target needed for the petition to succeed is 100,000 signatures. As I write this, it has already achieved 54,679 – over half way.
The first cull licence has been issued by Natural England and badger shooting is expected to commence within days. At the moment, this petition is the only thing that can stop this happening. Please sign it, ask others to sign it, circulate it within your organisation and conservation contacts – please do what you can.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Best wishes
Mike
Mike Rendle
Coordinator
Northern Ireland Badger Group
Twitter – @badgersni
Representing the Badger Trust in Northern Ireland