DEFRA will not be able to keep the location of trial badger culls a secret from the public, farm minister Jim Paice has admitted.
Speaking to journalists at the Oxford Farming Conference on Wednesday (4 January), Mr Paice said the government was in discussion with its badger cull licencing body, Natural England, about how precise the boundaries need to be.
“Natural England is required by law in each area to consult the public. We are in discussion with them about how precise the boundaries on those maps need to be,” he said.
But it was impossible to prevent the public from learning where the trials to shoot badgers would be held.
“In the end the public will know,” he said. “I don’t deem it possible that once this gets under way that the grapevine will not work.
“It may seem tough, but farmers and landowners will have to take that into consideration when they sign up to take part in the trial.”
Mr Paice’s warning came as he addressed questions over how convinced he was about the effects shooting badgers could have on the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in disease hotspots.
“We believe the science is clear, these trials are about testing the efficacy, humaneness and public safety of shooting to reduce the badger population by 70% [within cull areas]. We think it’s necessary.”
While Mr Paice said the government had held discussions with the police over ensuring the safety of the public, shadow farm minister Mary Creagh said she was concerned about the costs of policing a cull.
“Estimated police costs have already risen tenfold to £2m in each cull area over years,” she told reporters.
“There are also discrepancies between DEFRA and the industry over how much it will cost to carry out the culls.”
Mrs Creagh said her biggest concern was that the police costs indicated that armed officers would be needed to patrol the countryside to protect farmers and people licenced to carry out culls.
But NFU president Peter Kendall said it was disingenuous of Mrs Creagh to say armed police would be needed to monitor culling areas.
“Farmers already shoot foxes and rabbits at night safely,” he said. “The fact areas won’t remain secret is no reason for farmers not to take part in a cull trial either,” he added.
He said the NFU was prepared to submit eight suggested areas where a cull might take place.
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