Blow to plans for further culls as report reveals killings were neither humane nor effective at curbing TB in cattle
Damian Carrington theguardian.com 28 Feb 14;
Badger cull A third of the badgers were shot in the wrong part of the body and two out of nine had to be shot twice, having not died instantly, report says. Photograph: Alamy
Controversial badger culls in England aimed at curbing TB in cattle failed on both humaneness and effectiveness, according to independent expert assessments obtained by the Guardian and the BBC.
A significant number of badgers were not shot cleanly, while the total killed fell far short of the number required to ensure TB was not spread further by badgers disturbed by the culling.
The revelations are the most damaging yet and will make it challenging for ministers to justify their aim of rolling out further culls across the country.
Maria Eagle, the shadow environment secretary, said: “It would be outrageous if ministers now sought to dismiss the advice of their own independent expert panel and press on with further culling of badgers regardless. The environment secretary should come back to parliament on this issue and there should be no roll-out of the government’s badger cull policy without a full debate and vote in parliament. These culls have been a disaster for taxpayers, farmers and wildlife.”
“The government’s boast that all badgers were killed cleanly and killed instantly is clearly not true,” said Mark Jones, vet and executive director of Humane Society International/UK. “We fear many badgers may have suffered significant pain and distress.”
Dominic Dyer, CEO of the Badger Trust and policy adviser to Care for the Wild, said: “David Cameron should now be taking a long hard look at this policy which has shamed his government. It was conceived for political, not practical reasons. It was carried out in an arrogant and careless fashion which has now been officially branded a failure.”
Pilot badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset in autumn 2013 were intended to demonstrate that a minimum of 70% of badgers could be killed within six weeks in a humane way. However, despite the badger population estimates being sharply cut and the culls being extended, both failed to meet the minimum 70%.
Monitoring reports from England’s wildlife watchdog, Natural England, seen by the Guardian, show that a third of the badgers were shot in the wrong part of the body and two out of nine had to be shot twice, having not died instantly. The reports also show that on many occasions the marksmen failed to follow biosecurity protocols aimed at preventing disease spread, such as not using disinfectants.
The information leaked to the BBC and verified by the Guardian is from a report by an independent panel of scientists and based on the government’s own monitoring. It showed that between 6.4% and 18% of shot animals took more than five minutes to die, depending on the assumptions made. The standard to be met was that no more than 5% of the shot badgers should take more than five minutes to die. The report also concluded that fewer than half the badgers were killed in Somerset in the first six weeks, lower than the government’s own estimate of 58%, which was calculated using a different methodology. The report has yet to be submitted to ministers.
Andrew Guest, from the National Farmers Union, said of the revelations: “It doesn’t sound good.” But he said it was important that a significant number of badgers had been removed.
A spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural affairs said: “We knew there’d be lessons to be learned from the first year of the pilot culls which is why we’re looking forward to receiving the panel’s recommendations for improving the way they are carried out, because we need to do all we can to tackle this devastating disease.” About 30,000 TB-infected cattle a year are slaughtered at a cost to taxpayers of about £100m.
Professor Rosie Woodroffe, who worked on a landmark 10-year study of badger culling, said the conclusion to be drawn was simple: “The pilot culls have not been effective.” She also questions the multi-million pound cost of the culls and argues that badger vaccination would be cheaper.
The badger culls were condemned as “mindless” in 2012 by Lord John Krebs, who commissioned the 10-year study. The extensions to the culls were criticised by Natural England’s lead scientific director, Sir David Attenborough and the National Trust.
Ministers had been expected to decide whether to roll-out further culls by the end of February. Natural England, which licences the culls under terms dictated by government, has already received dozens of applications for culls, should more be allowed.
Badger culls were 'ineffective and failed humaneness test'
Pallab Ghosh BBC News 28 Feb 14;
The BBC's Pallab Ghosh reports on both sides of the cull row
An independent scientific assessment of last year's pilot badger culls in parts of Gloucestershire and Somerset has concluded that they were not effective.
Analysis commissioned by the government found the number of badgers killed fell well short of the target deemed necessary, the BBC understands.
And up to 18% of culled badgers took longer than five minutes to die, failing the test for humaneness.
The pilot culls were intended to limit the spread of TB in cattle.
They were carried out to demonstrate the ability to combat bovine TB though a controlled reduction in the population of local badgers.
Contracted marksmen, paid for by farming groups, were employed to shoot the animals at night.
The Independent Expert Panel was appointed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to help ministers evaluate the effectiveness, humaneness and safety of the Gloucestershire and Somerset pilots.
Prof Rosie Woodroffe, a scientist at the Zoological Society of London, said that the panel's "findings show unequivocally that the culls were not effective and that they failed to meet the humaneness criteria.
"I hope this will lead to the Secretary of State (Owen Paterson) to focus on other ways of eradicating TB in cattle," she told BBC News.
Robin Hargreaves, president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), said it was the BVA that had taken a lead in calling for the controlled shooting to be tested and critically evaluated before it was rolled out.
"We are unable to comment in detail on the findings of the IEP until we have seen the report," he told the BBC. "But if these figures are true then they would certainly raise concerns about both the humaneness and efficacy of controlled shooting.
"We have always stated that if the pilots were to fail on humaneness then BVA could not support the wider roll out of the method of controlled shooting."
The pilots were authorised by Defra and licensed by Natural England.
The target for marksmen was to kill at least 70% of badgers in the cull areas within a six-week period.
Extensive research carried out by Prof Woodroffe in earlier trials in the 1990s had shown that a failure to kill this percentage of badgers in a narrow window of time could actually worsen matters as disturbed and diseased animals took the TB into new areas.
When both trials duly failed to kill sufficient badgers within the specified period, they were extended on the advice of the Chief Vet, Nigel Gibbens. The panel in its report, though, concerns itself only with the initial six weeks.
First assessments had suggested that, in those six weeks, 58% of badgers had been killed in the Somerset cull and 30% in the Gloucestershire pilot.
However, BBC News understands the independent panel's analysis, which used more precise methodology, found that less than half of badgers were killed in both areas over the six-week period.
Defra had also agreed a criterion with the expert group for how the trials could be deemed humane.
The standard set was for no more than 5% of the shot badgers to take more than five minutes to die.
But the expert group found the time limit was exceeded by between 6.4% and 18% of shot animals, depending on the assumptions made.
Professor Rosie Woodroffe, from the Zoological Society of London, said the only benefit from the trial was "better evidence"
The expert group, however, held back from describing the trial as "inhumane" on the grounds that there may be some circumstances in which greater suffering of badgers might be justified. An example would be if the spread of TB was causing more problems than otherwise anticipated.
Prof Woodroffe was among 32 scientists who wrote to Mr Patterson in 2012 expressing fears that the culls risked increasing TB in cattle rather than reducing it.
"Our predictions have been borne out," she told the BBC. "It has cost a fortune and probably contributed nothing in terms of disease control, which is really unfortunate."
The assessment also found a wide variation in the effectiveness and humaneness of the contractors brought in by farming groups to kill the badgers.
The expert panel said that if culling was to be extended to other parts of the country, the marksmen recruited would need to be closely monitored.
On the issue of public safety, the panel found no problems.
Andy Robertson, director general of the National Farmers' Union, said he could not comment on the contents of the IEP report until it was officially published. However, he stressed the threat TB in cattle posed to his members.
"More than 30,000 cattle were killed in the first 11 months of 2013 because of the disease. It is vital that we do everything we can to tackle the disease. Badgers play a key role in spreading bovine TB and so it's essential that any TB eradication policy must include a targeted cull of badgers in those areas where TB is rife."
Defra said that it did not know when the report would be submitted by the IEP or when it would be published, stating only that "no deadline had been set". A spokesperson added: "We knew there'd be lessons to be learned from the first year of the pilot culls which is why we're looking forward to receiving the panel's recommendations for improving the way they are carried out, because we need to do all we can to tackle this devastating disease."
More than 1,700 badgers were culled in total in the two counties, according to Defra.
