MAFF killing badgers inhumanely BBC

05 May 1999

MAFF killing badgers inhumanely — BBC

A TELEVISION documentary tonight will suggest that government workers are inhumanely killing badgers to find out whether the animal pass tuberculosis to cattle.

The hour-long Nature Special programme, called The Culling Fields, is an investigation of the governments badger cull and will be shown on BBC2 at 9.30pm.

The BBC has already billed the programme as a report on the “largest wildlife experiment in the world” which resumes again this month after a winter break.

But the documentary is likely to prove a public relations disaster for the Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) which could backfire against livestock farmers.

Respected presenter Julian Pettifer, of the BBCs Natural History Unit, has spent six months filming livestock producers whose cattle have been infected with TB.

He shows the hardship they are under and puts forward their claims that badgers are to blame for spreading the disease to areas free from TB for 40 years.

But the programme also includes footage of a badger being shot by a Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) worker who walks away without checking whether the animal is dead.

Badger conservationists, who believe that badgers are not to blame for the spread of TB, claim that 20,000 of the animals could be killed during the cull.

They are likely to seize on the programme as proof that the badgers are being inhumanely killed, contrary to claims made by junior agriculture minister Jeff Rooker.

In a written parliamentary answer last week, Mr Rooker said the badgers were being “humanely despatched by shooting”.

“The despatch of badgers may only be carried out by fully trained MAFF staff following standard operating procedures,” he said.

“Such staff receive external and internal training on the safe use of firearms specifically in relation to badgers.”

Action is being taken to appoint an independent auditor to assess the whether the proper procedures are being followed, added Mr Rooker.