Target of 2223 badgers to be killed in Oxfordshire
Despite the Government saying in March that culling would move to vaccination the badger cull is set to come to Oxfordshire on the 1st September.
Leaked information has shown that Natural England will be licensing 10 new badger culling areas including Oxfordshire. Oxfordshire Badger group, (OBG) are very saddened and disappointed to learn that there will be badgers culled under licence in Oxfordshire this autumn.
Julia Hammett, chair of Oxfordshire Badger Group said “We believe in the 100% safe, no kill alternative of vaccinating badgers against Bovine TB and will continue our positive work to protect wildlife. We offer this service at no cost to landowners and maintain complete confidentiality.
If the Government were to invest in our programme instead of investing millions of pounds in culling we could expand this service to more landowners who have expressed an interest in vaccinating badgers on their land.”
To learn more about our vaccination project see https://www.gofundme.com/f/oxfordshire-badger-group-vaccination-project
Dominic Dyer, CEO Badger Trust said:
“In March, the Government talked of an imminent end to the badger cull policy in favour of badger and cattle vaccination, a view largely accepted by politicians and the public. In reality the Government is now pressing ahead with the largest destruction of a protected species in history, which could result in up to 65,000 badgers being killed across 54 areas of England stretching from Cornwall to Cumbria in the next few months.”
Oxfordshire Badger Group urges its members and the public to contact their MP and call for culling to be replaced with vaccination in Oxfordshire, a service that has already been started.
If you are a landowner and are interested in talking to us confidentially about vaccination please email vaccinate@oxonbadgergroup.org.uk
Ends.
15th August 2020