FLICKR, PETER TRIMMING
Amid protests, pilot badger culls began yesterday (August 26) in two British counties. The culls are meant to reduce cases of bovine tuberculosis (TB), which infected badgers are known to spread among cattle.
“We cannot go on culling tens of thousands of cattle every year because of TB while knowing the disease exists in wildlife uncontrolled,” Peter Kendall, president of the British National Farmers Union, wrote in a letter to members.
Last year, UK farmers put down 37,000 cattle because of bovine TB, The Guardian reported. As part of the current pilot badger culls, marksmen will kill up to 5,000 badgers in Gloucestershire and Somerset counties. “We are working on new badger and cattle vaccines but they are years away from being ready and we ...
