Save our wildlife - Go vegan!

Urgent: Email Carwyn Jones. Contact new Welsh Labour leader.
Urgent: Michelle Gildernew. No to badger 'culling' in Northern Ireland!
Urgent: National Trust. Ask them not to allow badger slaughter on their land.
Urgent: Welsh letter. Send our letter to your local paper.

Badgers are under threat across the United Kingdom. They are the scapegoats of failed agricultural policy and political backslapping. Going against solid scientific advice the Welsh Assembly is now planning to forge ahead with new plans to kill badgers, despite their recent defeat in the Appeal Court battle with The Badger Trust. This will be a wildlife massacre and for nothing. The Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition have previously pledged their support for badger 'culling' in England (and are now putting their plans into place), and now Northern Ireland is considering a 'cull' despite having the lowest incidence of the disease. The largest report into bovine TB found that badger 'culling' would actually make the situation worse by displacing surviving badgers. It is not too late to try and make them see sense!

• Don't eat meat or dairy - animal agriculture is at the root of the badger's plight. Click here to find out how to ditch them!
   
• Click here for your free badger door-dropper leaflets. For bigger numbers of leaflets for stalls and other uses please email liam@viva.org.uk. Spread the word!
   
• Join our dedicated Welsh and English Facebook groups to fight badger 'culling'!

• Protest!: organise you own peaceful protest in England or Wales. We can send you free materials (see above), we just need you to take the message to the people. Also, below are people who are organising events to raise awareness in Wales. Please get in touch with them directly if you can spare time to help:
  
  Save the Badger: umbrella group for those campaigning for badgers in Wales and against the 'cull'. Website
  
  Pembrokeshire against the cull: group on the ground where the 'cull' is planned. Website
  
  North Pembrokeshire (where the 'cull' is planned):  Adrian Stallwood and Monica Fernandez. 01437 731 604 / monica.adrian@btinternet.com
  
  Dyfed (covers Pembrokeshire): Badger Watch and Rescue Dyfed. Gorden Lumby. 01570 480 571 / g.lumby@btopenworld.com
  
  North Wales: Judi Hewitt. 07789 156022 / judi.nowar@homecall.co.uk
  
  Cardiff (South Wales): Derek Hector. 0292 0658 615 / derek.hector@ntlworld.com
   
• Read George Monbiot's recent attack on the destruction of wildlife to protect financial interests here.
   
• Viva! needs your support. Please donate to our campaign and help us stop the misery of factory farming and the destruction of our wildlife. Join Viva! if you are not already a supporter.

Support the Welsh dairy boycott

Are you a Welsh resident? We have found that the Welsh media will rarely publish letters from Viva! because they perceive us as (wrongly) a purely English group. In fact, we have many supporters right across the UK and have spent a good deal of our time and resources fighting the 'culling' of badgers in Wales (and we will continue to do so). To spread awareness, please send the letter below (or even better your own version) to your local Welsh publication - and raise awareness as to why badgers are really going to die. As a Welsh resident you have much more chance of having your letter published.

Email Carwyn Jones

Call for Welsh Labour to abandon the 'cull'

Elin Jones is no longer the minister for rural affairs in Wales; she is due to be replaced by a Labour minister imminently following the recent Welsh elections. This is our opportunity to point out to Carwyn Jones (the new First Minister) and Welsh Labour the futility of a 'cull' of badgers in Wales. Please contact him now, as they will shortly be deciding on policy. Use our template or put together your own polite email.

Email him: carwyn.jones@wales.gsi.gov.uk

• Write to the National Trust!

  They are sending out mixed messages on badger ‘culling’. Not so long ago they issued a statement that said: “In the absence of scientific support for culling badgers, the right course of action must be to focus on the other measures, in particular a better understanding of cattle to cattle transmission, the implementation of effective biosecurity, and the development of effective vaccines, especially in the short term, for badgers.” However, they have since apparently made a U-turn and have told the farming press that it will allow ‘culling’ on its land “... as long as the criteria for a successful cull are met.”

  Please write to The National Trust to tell them not to allow ‘culling’ on their land. If you are a member, please tell them that you may have to rethink your membership. If you are not a member, please tell them that their future policy will affect your decisions in the future.

  Email them: Enquiries@thenationaltrust.org.uk

  
  “Dear National Trust

  I was extremely disappointed to hear that the organisation may allow badger ‘culling’ on its property after all. This seems to be a complete u-turn on a previous statement that acknowledged the truth that there is not a consensus of scientific support for killing badgers in an attempt to prevent the spread of bovine TB.

  I agree with the Trust’s previous statement that “Science not sentiment on bovine TB control is right approach”. As you know, the largest ever study into the disease found that killing badgers made no meaningful contribution to limiting the spread of the disease.

  In fact, the government’s piecemeal approach to badger ‘culling’ goes completely against the advice of that report. Licensing farmers to shoot on their own land is liable to spread the disease rather than contain it, as this could merely push the problem elsewhere.

  The fact that the government will not even organise testing dead badgers for TB shows that this is not a serious attempt to control disease. Rather it is a political decision to appease rural voters. They are not testing dead badgers because they know that those tests will come back to show that the majority are clear of the disease – as has happened with previous testing regimes.

  The Trust says that it will allow ‘culling’ on its land if it is carried out “... to the highest possible welfare standards”. With that in mind, the Trust cannot possibly put its name to this bloodshed.  The government admits the killing of free-running badgers has not been tested. It cannot therefore be judged as ‘humane’. Rifles and shotguns will be used – and this shooting will be done at night, as badgers are nocturnal animals. This will happen away from public or official scrutiny, and undoubtedly many badgers will be injured and not killed outright. In no way can this ever be described as humane.

  If the Trust bows to pressure for the unjust destruction of British wildlife I will not be able to support the National Trust in any capacity in the future.

  I hope you will once again reiterate your opposition to the ‘culling’ of badgers.

   

  Yours faithfully"
   
 
• Stop the 'cull' in Northern Ireland
  
  If there was one place where you would think that badgers would be safe it would be Northern Ireland (NI). The incidence of bovine TB (bTB) is lower there than anywhere in the UK, and lower than in the Republic of Ireland. Levels of bTB in NI cattle fell by 50 per cent between 2002-07 - this was achieved without killing any badgers by using effective cattle control methods. However, despite ruling out (at least in the meantime) a widespread 'cull' in NI, unbelievably, the Minister of Agriculture, Michelle Gildernew, is now considering carrying out a limited 'cull' of badgers. This is to ostensibly test for the prevalence of bTB in the badger population, even though many badgers killed on the road are currently tested. Reportedly, it is not being called a 'cull' because 'only' a thousand badgers are to be killed! If you have already received a reply stating that badgers are not going to die in NI, it appears that DARD (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) are being disingenuous. See our amended suggested letter below, and write again!
  
  Wherever you live, please help us change her mind before more wild animals die on the altar of agricultural folly.

  Use the letter below as a template (or even better create your own).

  Send polite messages to:

  Michelle Gildernew
  Minister of Agriculture
  Room 337
  Parliament Buildings
  Belfast BT4 3XX
  
  Or email: private.office@dardni.gov.uk
  Or fax: 02890524170

  "Dear Minister Gildernew

  Whilst I welcome the news that you have not proposed a mass 'cull' of badgers in NI, I was extremely disappointed to hear that you are still considering killing up to a thousand badgers as part of a prevalence study of bTB in these animals.

  Despite calling this a 'badger intervention' it is clear that it is a 'cull' under another name. This prevalence study is especially unwarranted, as a great deal of information about TB and badgers is already available through the ongoing DARD study of badgers killed on the road, as well as previous 'culling' trials in the Irish Republic and Great Britain. According the the Northern Ireland Badger Group, only 17 per cent of badgers in NI are infected with TB - this means that over 800 healthy badgers will be killed during this study. It is also rumoured that these badgers will be caught using wire snares, which are incredibly cruel. Please reassure me that this will not be the case.

  This badger intervention policy is folly - and will presumably be a very costly folly. I can't believe that tax payers in NI wish this to go ahead.

  Plus, the recent defeat of the Welsh Assembly's plans to kill badgers in Wales by the Appeal Court shows that plans in NI could very well suffer the same fate. A drop of just 9 per cent in TB, as highlighted by the case, is not enough to justify the slaughter of thousands of wild animals. It also clearly shows the crux of the problem lies elsewhere.

  Badgers are not to blame for the bTB crisis. You said yourself, ". we do not know with any certainty the extent to which badgers contribute to the incidence of TB in cattle." However, the largest study ever undertaken into the issue - the Independent Scientific Group's report - stated categorically that 'culling' badgers would make no meaningful contribution to controlling the spread of the disease - and could make things worse. NI has shown the way in recent years in sensibly tackling bTB through the main vector - cattle-to-cattle transmission. The reduction of 50 per cent (between 2002-07) of bTB in cattle is encouraging - and all without killing wildlife.

  It is also madness to begin killing wildlife, even in a limited way, when there are issues left unaddressed within farming. The NI Audit Office's report, The Control of Bovine Tuberculosis in NI (March 2009), highlighted several areas for future improvement in the fight against bTB  - but was firmly against badger 'culling'. The report blames inadequate boundary fencing and poor on-farm bio-security; the failure of farmers to take part in training to limit the spread of disease and increase their bio-security knowledge; failure to implement pre-movement testing; and failure to tackle potentially widespread non-compliance by farmers, and insufficient fines to discourage future fraud.

  Whilst these issues remain unaddressed in NI, I would suggest that your department's efforts are better served tackling these problems - as well as fast tracking vaccination for both badgers and cattle. Killing a thousand badgers for a prevalence study is pointless and cruel. Please say no to the needless slaughter of NI wildlife.

  Yours sincerely"