Badger cull targeted in Euro parliament
Plans to shoot badgers could be blocked by the "heavy hand" of Brussels after campaigners enlisted the European Parliament in the battle to halt a cull in the Westcountry.
The Humane Society International (HSI) has lodged a "serious complaint" against the UK government proposals to license two trial culls in September.
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The pilot projects to eradicate bovine tuberculosis already face a judicial review next month, brought by the Badger Trust.
HSI supporters say the Coalition proposals to license free shooting by farmers breaches the 30-year-old Bern Convention. The claim has been supported by a key animal welfare committee in Brussels, which has formally asked the Convention to take the complaint seriously.
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However, a South West MEP has told the campaigners to "butt out" of the debate over how to control the disease and leave it to the people affected.
Mark Jones, vet and executive director of HSI UK, said "indiscriminately" shooting badgers at night was a "clear abuse" of protection measures.
"The Bern Convention must take decisive action and advise the government that proceeding with this bloody and pointless slaughter will place it in clear breach of its obligations," he added.
The HSI has registered its grievance with the European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals.
Intergroup chairman Dan Jørgensen, a socialist MEP, and UK Green MEP for South East England, Keith Taylor, have co-signed a letter to the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) urging it to give serious consideration.
Julie Girling, a South West Tory MEP and a member of the Intergroup, said she was "hopping mad" that the pair had supported the complaint without discussion by or the support of the whole group.
Mrs Girling, Conservative chief whip and the party's agriculture spokesman at the European Parliament, warned activists not to invoke Brussels in the controversial issue.
"As a member of the animal welfare group I am really affronted they have done it this way and I cannot see any good coming of it," she added.
"These sort of things don't help and there is no reason for the heavy hand of the EU to intervene.
"You have to ask yourself how much a Danish MEP and a member from the South East of England know about TB in the South West and those who confront it every day."
Mr Taylor, the Green MEP who supported the complaint, said he was concerned that the UK Government was "flouting" the Convention. He said there was a "mountain of evidence" that a cull would be "highly ineffective" in tackling the disease.
Comments
by kersweaz
Sunday, June 03 2012, 12:28AM
“i must say that this is the first thing the EU as done that is any good.”
by Bob_Wickerman
Sunday, June 03 2012, 12:26AM
“Brussels for once are showing some common sense, they look at Britain and see cattle aren't going down like ninepins with disease, so they quite rightly say "Where's the problem?"”
by sadperson
Saturday, June 02 2012, 9:13PM
“How about using beaters Like they do at grouse shoots) to shoo badgers onto the motorway during rush hour. Then the cars could take care of 'em.”
by breezerrosie
Saturday, June 02 2012, 7:57PM
“Maybe not, but the meat industry are demanding that this happen. Sorry, I didn't feel that this was the forum to explain every nuance of my thinking, I assumed readers would be able to understand the link. doh.”
by MissAnthrope
Saturday, June 02 2012, 1:56PM
“Ummm, sorry to be the one to point this out to you, but the badgers are not being killed to be eaten.”
by breezerrosie
Saturday, June 02 2012, 9:39AM
“Why not stop senselessly killing wildlife, cut down on meat consumption and become a more animal friendly society. It makes no sense that we admire the spring watch activities of our wonderful wildlife and then allow indiscriminate shooting and hunting. We eat too much meat, it's not good for us, the environment and obviously the animals at the slaughterhouse. Nothing in the meat industry is done with animal welfare in mind. Animals are not here to be 'abused' by humans.
There is no natural 'balance' with the way that we farm for meat, it's all about mass production and that brings problems such as disease and ecological extremes that we ignore at our peril. We will end up with a country full of farm animals, pumped full of chemicals to force growth, and little else.”
by shipmateron
Saturday, June 02 2012, 8:52AM
“Why don't we just leave the badgers well alone, then buy in all our meat from Argentina? Lateral thinking people.”
by Charlespk
Saturday, June 02 2012, 8:46AM
“Quote:- "You have to ask yourself how much a Danish MEP and a member from the South East of England know about TB in the South West and those who confront it every day."
Please don't ask me to reply in the vernacular. . My mother would be dreadfully shocked if she were still alive.”