An ongoing badger culling program in Derbyshire is now moving into Rotherham amidst controversy and opposition from environmentalists and animal welfare advocates. 

Badger culling is a policy in parts of the UK where cull companies are allowed to shoot badgers within a given area to reduce bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle.

Despite its aim of reducing bTB in cattle, the practice has been widely criticised for its ineffectiveness and cruelty.

South Yorkshire Badger Group, located in Rotherham, help to protect vulnerable badgers and actively campaign against badger culls; their major concern is the cruelty involved in the culling process. 

Wendy Smith, a long-term member of South Yorkshire Badger Group, said: “It’s all around money, prejudice and cruelty. The advice given to the gunmen by Natural England is to shoot them in the heart. But badgers smell where they’re going, so they have their heads pointed down all the time. People have been coming to us, finding badgers being shot in the wrong places and dying agonising deaths.” 

Additionally, South Yorkshire Badger Group feels the practice of badger baiting is becoming a growing issue.

Badger-baiting is a practice that involves setting dogs on badgers for entertainment. It typically involves digging up badger sets (underground burrows) and using dogs to attack the badgers. 

This practice leads to badgers often being severely injured or killed and is illegal in the UK.

Wendy said: “Many don’t realise and can’t believe the amount of cruelty that goes on, like capturing badger babies to bait the mum so dogs can attack them. When I give public talks, people are still astonished that it still goes on.”

One of the key arguments against the cull is its historical failure. Previous attempts to eradicate badgers to control bTB in the 1970s in the UK proved unsuccessful, despite the use of ‘extreme measures’ such as gassing and the destruction of entire badger families. 

The RSPCA estimates that between 4% and 6% of badgers are infected with bovine tuberculosis.

Badger culling can have mixed effects on bovine tuberculosis. While proactive culling on a large scale might initially reduce bTB in cattle, it can also lead to increases in bTB around the edges of cull areas and among the remaining badger population.

Research also showed that badgers may not be the primary source of bTB infection in cattle. 

Scientists found that both cattle and badgers could transmit bovine tuberculosis to each other, but cattle were more likely to infect badgers than the other way around.

Since the start of the culling program in 2013, the United Kingdom has culled 210,000 badgers at a total cost of £58.8 million.

Diane Brown, who has been a member of the South Yorkshire Badger Group for 29 years, said: “It’s bitterly disappointing they’ve gone back to culling. They know it’s not effective.”  

It is against the law to destroy badger habitats and engage in badger-baiting. Contact the police and the Wildlife Crime Unit if you find evidence of badger-baiting or habitat destruction.