Latest news with #badgercull
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Jeremy Clarkson puzzled by failure of 'cruel, costly' badger cull
Oxfordshire farmer Jeremy Clarkson has been left puzzled by the failure of what a badger campaign group calls a 'cruel, costly' policy. The star of the Amazon Prime series Clarkson's Farm announced Tuberculosis (TB) had broken out at Diddly Squat Farm in Chadlington on Thursday (July 31). He said: "Bad news from Diddly Squat. We've gone down with TB. Everyone here is absolutely devastated." He then added later on in the afternoon: "I should clear this up, really. It's Bovine TB that we have. "It doesn't affect people, just our poor cows." Bovine TB can be disastrous for farming communities, running through herds of cows, killing many. READ MORE: Oxfordshire is an 'edge area' for the disease, meaning it is a buffer zone between high-risk and low-risk areas so most herds are subject to six-monthly TB tests by default. Bovine TB has broken out at Diddly Squat Farm (Image: Press Associaton) One of the ways TB outbreaks are controlled is through badger culls, stopping the spread from animal-to-animal which are allowed under UK law. The effectiveness of these measures is widely disputed and Mr Clarkson, who previously was supportive of the culls, seems to have become more sceptical of their impact. Speaking on Times Radio, he said: 'The cull here was pretty heavy and a lot of badgers went off to meet their maker. There was a badger cull in Oxfordshire (PA)'So, you would imagine with the numbers so low that TB would be halted and yet it hasn't been.' He went on to say that his farm isn't alone with this problem and others nearby also have suffered an outbreak. In fact there have been several cases in Oxfordshire near Diddly Squat Farm in recent weeks, according to ibTB, a mapping platform for the disease in England and Wales. Mr Clarkson added: 'So, you could say the badger cull stopped in October and everyone's now getting TB. That's because we're not culling badgers anymore. Clarkson spoke on the radio about the disease (PA) (Image: PA) 'Or you could look at it the other way. The numbers are low so it should have cut the instances of TB down and it doesn't seem to have done that. "I'm struggling to get my head around that at the moment.' Reacting to these developments, the Oxfordshire Badger Group (OBG) called the culling of badgers a 'cruel, costly and failed policy'. 'There is no evidence that badger culling has any impact on reducing bovine TB,' a spokesperson said. READ MORE: They said that almost a quarter of a million badgers have been killed since the cull began in England in 2013 'without scientific evidence'. The OBG called the policy cruel '60 per cent of Oxfordshire is in the cull area', added OBG. "And 10,000 badgers have been killed since culling began in Oxfordshire in 2020." Instead of the cull the group suggested implementing 'cattle based measures'. The Oxfordshire Badger Group (Image: Oxfordshire Badger Group) These include properly regulated cattle movement, improved biosecurity and a reliable testing system. The badger group has regularly campaigned in Oxford and the wider county. This included an open letter and petition to scientists at Oxford University last year, calling for them to speak up against badger culling. Members of the group also delivered an open letter calling for Oxford University academic Professor Sir Charles Godfray to step down from a review into the spread of bovine-TB. They stood with a petition outside the Oxford Martin School in March to hand over a petition dressed in their traditional badger costumes.
BBC News
17-06-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Headlines: Low water levels and flash flood damage
Here's our daily pick of stories from across local websites in the West of England, and interesting content from social media. Our pick of local website stories A medieval bridge is to get new protection as part of a £150,000 flood protection scheme, Somerset Live Tarr Steps on Exmoor, near Withypool has had to be rebuilt four times in the last 13 and their cygnets are getting caught in a silt trap at a pond in Saintbridge, according to Gloucestershire water levels caused the birds to get stuck when they were foraging for building of the former Lloyds Bank in Burnham-on-Sea is up for sale, the town's news site bank closed the branch last autumn due to "declining use".Pictures of Exmoor National Park after heavy rains swept away a footbridge features on ITV West footbridge over the Danesbrook near Hawkridge was scattered as far downstream as Dulverton. Our top three from yesterday What to watch on social media A bat survey in the Avon Gorge recorded 54,000 calls from 11 different research was conducted to determine what kind of lighting to install on the Clifton Suspension Bridge to ensure it has the least impact on the environment as Denyer, Green MP for Bristol Central, has been snapped with Queen guitarist Brian May as part of a campaign to end the culling of badgers to tackle TB in a post on X she accused the Labour government of reneging on a pledge to end the cull.A campaign to save old fashioned ironmonger WH Mogford & Son in Westbury-on-Trym is popular in the neighbourhood's Facebook Love Westbury on Trym is urging locals to use the store to prevent its Bristol City are close to appointing Austrian Gerhard Struber as new head coach abound in several Bristol City fan groups.
The Independent
03-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Badger cull expansion given go-ahead by officials — against advice of own science chief
Government officials have given the go-ahead for a fresh round of badger culling, starting immediately — against advice from their own scientific chief. Natural England is believed to have authorised supplementary culls for this year in nine areas — from Derbyshire to Wiltshire — as part of a programme that began in 2013 to curb badger populations in an effort to tackle bovine tuberculosis (bTB). Then, from September, culling periods are also set to be extended in another 10 areas, from the west country to Northamptonshire and Cumbria, sources say. Natural England's director of science Peter Brotherton recommended to his own officials that no supplementary culls be carried out this year, saying there was 'no justification' for more culling. The extensions come as opponents prepare to take the government to court to challenge the culling. The Badger Trust and the Wild Justice organisation, jointly led by naturalist Chris Packham, have won permission for a full judicial review of the policy. It's feared the latest culls could mean 5,000 or more adult and cubs will be shot. In its manifesto, Labour promised to end what it dubbed the 'ineffective' badger cull. Last year, 10,769 badgers were killed, sources have told The Independent, bringing the total killed in 12 years to around 240,000. Last year, Dr Brotherton advised switching to badger vaccination but officials overruled him, leading to thousands more of the wild mammals being killed, including in two new areas of England. The science chief now says he has reviewed two new papers published since last year, and that they did not change his mind. In advice to Natural England's operations team, obtained by ecologist and badger expert Tom Langton and seen by The Independent, he wrote: 'Based on this evidence, my advice remains that I can find no justification for authorising further supplementary badger culls in 2025 for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease, and I recommend against doing so.' But Natural England, the government's nature adviser, is pushing ahead with supplementary cull licences in nine areas. Supplementary licences extend a formal cull – usually of four years – after it has ended. Dr Brotherton concluded that the expected benefit from four years of culling already carried out should last for two years without more culling. 'Recent progress also gives further confidence that badger vaccination is a practical alternative to badger culling, supported by cattle-based measures,' he wrote. Studies have shown that vaccination of cattle, if done over several years, can be effective, and the Conservatives pledged to phase out culling, replacing it with badger inoculations and better cattle testing. Critics have accused both Conservative and now the Labour government of continuing the cull to retain the votes of farmers, who say bTB forces them to kill infected cattle early. Mr Langton said new advice not to cull badgers was welcome and that Natural England's decision was a 'failed and cruel distraction that simply serves to push yet more farms into the misery' of cattle TB outbreaks. 'A policy due to end in 2038 has missed all its targets and will blight the UK beyond 2060 at a cost of £1billion per decade without fresh thinking.' Nigel Palmer, chief executive of the Badger Trust, said 95 per cent of bTB transmission was cattle-to-cattle. 'This decision is utterly indefensible,' he said. 'The government has chosen to authorise another year of badger culling in the face of a legal challenge, scientific opposition, and public outrage. They promised change, but instead, are doubling down on a failed policy that has decimated badger populations without effectively tackling bovine TB.' It's understood that official government plans on supplementary licences will be announced later.
