Mike Weatherley, Conservative MP for Hove & Portslade continues to call for a rethink of the Government’s badger culling policy after pilot culls killed lower than expected numbers. Mike has signed Early Day Motion (EDM) 661 (Pilot Badger Cull Parliamentary Assessment and Vote) to draw further atten
Mike has signed Early Day Motion (EDM) 661 (Pilot Badger Cull Parliamentary Assessment and Vote) to draw further attention to the issue, after having recently signing EDM 299, which expressed concern over the potential cull before it began.
EDM 661 comes in the wake of the Royal College of Vetinary Surgeons’ report to England’s Chief Vetinary Officer, which remarks upon the increased suffering that badgers will face should the culls continue. This method is both less humane and less effective than the alternative of trapping and vaccinating badgers for tuberculosis.
Mike said: “This evidence comes as no surprise to those of us who have long viewed badger culling as not only an inhumane method of disease control, but also one which is fundamentally ineffective as a method of reducing bovine tuberculosis. I hope that that the report from the Royal College of Vetinary Surgeons helps draw attention to the problems with badger culling and leads to a reassessment of the national cull as a whole going forward.”
EDM 661 – PILOT BADGER CULL PARLIAMENTARY ASSESSMENT AND VOTE (No. 2) reads:
“That this House recognises that 145 hon. Members signed Early Day Motion 299 expressing concern over the pilot badger cull; notes that since this EDM was tabled the pilot badger culls have killed fewer badgers than was envisaged and that the cull timetable has been extended; further notes that 10 members of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons have written a letter to England’s Chief Veterinary Officer suggesting that the extension of the badger cull could result in increased suffering of badgers and place both badgers and cattle in and around the cull zones at greater risk of contracting bovine tuberculosis; further notes that the reduced effectiveness of the cull makes vaccination more cost effective; and calls on the Government to make a statement to the House and bring forward a vote to decide on the most cost effective, humane and efficient way to reduce bovine TB.”
