Save the Badgers!

If you follow me on Twitter you've probably heard me harping on these past few months about the planned badger cull. The aim of the badger cull is to help farmers tackle bovine TB, of which badgers are carriers. Unfortunately the government's plan will kill over 70% of badger population* and despite overwhelming opposition the government has confirmed that they still plan to go ahead with a cull of badgers, which could start as early as today.

CC Tatterdemalion!



In an effort to stop the cull Team Badger (made up of RSPCA, IFAW, the Humane Society International (UK), Born Free, Dr Brian May’s ‘Save Me’ organisation, the League Against Cruel Sports and many others) have fought to demonstrate that "the near-extermination of the badgers will have little or no impact on reducing bovine TB in cattle."**

To this aim they started a petition with the government which as of this writing has 231,229 signatures, 1 of which is mine. If you haven't signed already, you can sign the petition here.

Dr. Brian May's Twitter Profile

They also have an active social media campaign with both Facebook and Twitter accounts. I myself learned about the cull from Dr Brian May's Twitter. Yes, that's Brian May, the one from Queen. Did you know he's has a Ph.D in astrophysics? A rock god and a doctor... amazing! But back to Team Badger.

Their social media campaign helped get the message out there, share the facts, and even have a little fun. Such as the "Save The Badger Badger Badger" video, a remake of the "Badgers" video.

Source

After the government's announcement last week, Team Badger released a new report to expose the myths surrounding this cull. Obviously you can't contest a proposal without a solution of your own. And the solution is stop the cull and implement a vaccination programme for badgers and cattle, which is more sustainable and humane! This has led to one of the main myths perpetuated by pro-cull supporters that it is cheaper to cull than to vaccinate badgers. You can read Team Badger's take on this and the other nine myths in full report here.

Let's stop the cull and save the badgers!

 Erin x

*epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/38257
**rspca.org.uk/media/news/story/-/article/Badger_cull_myths_exposed_May13