The League Against Cruel Sports is asking the public to sign up to its new petition opposing the proposed badger cull in England.
The government is understood to support a cull to tackle bovine tuberculosis in cattle. Badgers are widely blamed for transmitting the disease.
The cull plans, expected to be announced by farming minister James Paice MP in the next month, are expected to allow groups of volunteers to shoot free-running badgers. This is despite evidence from research by government department Defra that culling can actually increase incidences of bovine TB.
Steve Taylor, the League’s head of campaigns and communications, described the suspected plans as “ludicrous”.
“For a government to even consider such a cull when their own evidence suggests it won’t work is ludicrous. Furthermore, allowing gun-toting volunteers to roam the countryside taking pot-shots at wildlife just creates a new bloodsport, and the public won’t be up for that,” said Mr Taylor.
“It makes you wonder what their next move will be,” he said. ”Badger culling as a stag weekend activity?”
The League has published graphic footage of badger baiting to demonstrate to the public the cruelty to which it objects.
The online petition can be found here or you can download the petition and encourage your family and friends to sign too.
This is so typical of this crap government. As far as James Paice goes he’s a Farmer end of story. All the evidence they have, and yet still they want to murder the badgers, this says it all about Cameron and his coalition government. They want to bring back hunting with dogs but there is a lot of opposition so he has put that on a back boiler for now, so instead he decides we will murder badgers. Shame on this really nasty and useless government.