Latest news with #badgercull
BBC News
5 days ago
- 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.
