Hunt Saboteurs Association calls on its supporters to oppose Badger Cull

Hunt Saboteurs Association Press Release August 22nd 2012

The Hunt Saboteurs Association is calling on its supporters to become actively involved in stopping the immoral, un-scientific badger cull being pursued by the Con-Dem coalition. We urge people to take whatever legal steps they think are necessary in order to halt the cull before thousands of innocent badgers are slaughtered to appease the powerful dairy farming lobby.

The cull is due to begin this Autumn in two pilot areas, one in Somerset and one in Gloucestershire. The results from these pilots will determine whether or not the cull is rolled out to bTB hotspots nationwide in future years, Defra is prepared to kill at least 70% of the badgers within cull areas; this may effectively kill all the badgers in those areas. Badgers will be shot, at night, with high powered rifles which may pose a threat to local residents, pets and other animals.

After the previous large scale cull of badgers in the UK, the Krebs trials, Professor John Bourne, head of the Independent Scientific Group concluded: “careful evaluation of our own and others’ data indicates that badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain. Indeed, some policies under consideration are likely to make matters worse rather than better. Second, weaknesses in cattle testing regimes mean that cattle themselves contribute significantly to the persistence and spread of disease in all areas where TB occurs, and in some parts of Britain are likely to be the main source of infection. Scientific findings indicate that the rising incidence of disease can be reversed, and geographical spread contained, by the rigid application of cattle-based control measures alone.” (Source: http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/tb/isg/report/final_report.pdf)

The Krebs trials lasted seven years and cost UK tax payers millions of pounds yet the Government still ignore the findings of the Independent Scientific Group and forge ahead with further culling of badgers, costing more money and leading to chaos in the countryside.

Lee Moon, spokesperson for the Hunt Saboteurs Association, stated: “The HSA is an umbrella organisation representing autonomous local groups. We know many of these local groups are committed to legally fighting the cull in a variety of ways. We have received feedback that many saboteurs are planning to travel to the cull areas when killing starts and use non-violent, legal, direct action to stop the slaughter of these innocent creatures”