New Blue Badger website. Conservatives Against The Badger Cull

Our latest initative is the Blue Badger website to act as a useful resource for Conservative MPs to learn more about why a badger cull would be ineffective in eradicating TB in cattle and needlessly devastate badger populations.

Take a look on www.bluebadger.org

Badgers are a protected species. There are only approximately 300,000 Badgers in Great Britain

The Government claims a badger cull will prevent livestock damage by reducing the   spread of tuberculosis to cattle. However, the proportion of cases of tuberculosisin cattle attributable to  badgers is very small and the Government itself admitsthat at best the cull is likely only to achieve a 12-16 percent reduction in tuberculosiscases in cattle only after 9 years. This leaves, at best, 84% of the Btb problem  remaining in cattle.

We consider that the Government has given insufficient consideration to alternative    non-lethal solutions including stricter controls on cattle movement and testing,    and the development and use of existing vaccines for badgers and cattle. The Government  should not allow a cull of badgers in preference to alternative options which have  a far greater chance of reducing the spread of bovine tuberculosis.