Charity wants government to be more transparent about pilot cull

As the first pilot badger cull in Somerset draws to a close, the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA) is calling on the Government to be clear about its effectiveness.

Government officials had previously said the six-week trials were intended to test the effectiveness and humaneness of shooting badgers as a means of controlling bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle.

RSPCA Chief Executive Gavin Grant said: “This cull has been shrouded in secrecy from the beginning and into the information gap have fallen many rumours. Now that the six-week trial period is over it is time for the Government to finally tell the public what is going on.”

There has been growing speculation about how successful the trial has been, yet very little information has been released about how humaneness and effectiveness is being assessed, the charity says.

It is believed that the numbers of shot badgers may be far below the target, causing some to speculate that this could lead to bTB getting worse, not better.

There have also been indications that the culls could be rolled out across the country in early 2014.

The RSPCA says it is very concerned that plans to extend the trials will be made without Parliament being consulted and without information from the culls being made public.

Gavin Grant also said: “If badgers are being killed inhumanely, the public deserve to know. If a decision has been made to shoot badgers in more areas of the country, Parliament should be given the chance to debate and vote on whether they want this to happen.”

The charity has called for the decision on a wider roll out of the cull to be brought back to Parliament for debate and to be subject to a vote in the House of Commons.