ePetition details

Save Herefordshire's badgers from culling

We the undersigned petition the council to ban badger culling on Herefordshire council-owned land, and invest in local badger vaccination projects. We ask this because we believe culling to be inhumane, inefficient and unscientific.

This is a national issue which will be of direct concern to Herefordshire Council when DEFRA 'rolls out' its culling policy in 2014. The object of the petition is to ensure that Herefordshire's badger population is as safe as possible from slaughter and that the already available injectable badger vaccine against bTB is used in as many cases as possible. We ask this because we believe the culling policy is inhumane (DEFRA's measurement of 'humaneness' is to time the screams of wounded badgers), inefficient (previous culls showed an increase in bTB because of badger movement) and unscientific (the majority of scientific opinion holds that a cull will have 'no meaningful result').

This ePetition ran from 28/11/2013 to 28/03/2014 and has now finished.

825 people signed this ePetition.

Council response

Thank you for the petition submitted recently asking Herefordshire Council to ban badger culling on council-owned land, and invest in local badger vaccination projects. I understand the issue is an emotive one both for those interested in the welfare of the badger population and of farmed animals.

The council does not currently have a policy that covers this area of activity. However we will review the situation and present a policy statement for the cabinet member to consider adopting regarding the matter. It is likely that this will involve consultation with the relevant regulatory bodies to ensure that any policy conforms with current legislation and approval is not anticipated before the end of the calendar year.