Badger culling halted

21 May 1998

Badger culling halted

By Trevor Mason, Press Association

LIMITED culling of badgers in a bid to combat bovine tuberculosis has been discontinued, the Government said last night.

Jeff Rooker, junior farm minister, said recent studies made clear there was no basis for a general policy of killing badgers to control the disease.

A further study was planned to assess the effectiveness of badger culling as a “disease control strategy”, Mr Rooker said in a Commons written reply.

“Meanwhile, we have brought to an end the `interim strategy of limited badger culling by Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food staff.”

He said ministers saw no basis for issuing licences to farmers to kill badgers to try to prevent the spread of bovine TB to cattle.