Important new research paper demolishes Oxford's research findings. Will they accept that culling badgers has NO valid scientific basis?
Two of Oxfordshire Badger Group's Trustees have just delivered our petition and an open letter to Oxford University's Department of Biology. The petition “Oxford University's Scientists Must Speak Out Against Badger Extermination” has well over 50,000 signatures. In it, we ask the scientists involved in Oxford's original Oxford Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) along with the Department's current senior scientists, to respond to new evidence that culling badgers does not help control bovine TB (bTB).
We first presented the petition in April with 13,000 signatures but the scientists have since refused to engage in open, meaningful scientific debate. Today, we renewed our call for for them to pursue scientific rigour in acknowledging the new science that has developed over the last two years and join us in calling for an immediate end to the badger cull.
A new paper published this week challenges Oxford's claim that their RBCT findings are sacrosanct and need no further discussion. It finds that the RBCT's conclusions implicating badgers in spreading the disease are a NOT a reliable basis for policy decisions.
The paper “Absence of effects of widespread badger culling on tuberculosis in cattle" by Torgerson et al found fatal flaws in the
analytical methods used. In fact the RBCT shows that:
- Badgers DO NOT play a significant role in spreading the disease to cattle
- The RBCT DOES NOT support the badger perturbation effect hypothesis
Surely keeping silent is no longer an option ?
We must wait and see how they respond.
Please follow the links below to read more
Delivering the petition
