League Relieved Gloucestershire Badger Cull is Called Off...For Now
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

From League Against Cruel Sports
December 2013

Animal welfare charity, the League Against Cruel Sports has expressed its ‘relief’ that no more badgers will needlessly lose their lives, after Natural England made the decision to revoke the cull licence in Gloucestershire, putting an end to the cull at noon on Saturday 30th November - three weeks earlier than planned.

The decision, which has been commended by the charity, was taken after Natural England admitted there was “no realistic prospect of the cull removing the number of badgers required by the licence” after marksmen again failed to kill enough badgers to meet targets set. The number of badgers killed during the extension period remains unknown..

Joe Duckworth, Chief Executive at the League Against Cruel Sports said: “We applaud Natural England for making the right and sensible decision to revoke the cull licence. Finally some common sense has prevailed and the smokescreen is beginning to clear.

“It is an enormous relief to know the lives of hundreds of badgers will be safe, for the moment at least, although, if Natural England or the Government had acted sooner thousands more badgers could have been saved from needlessly being slaughtered under the farcical policy.”

The cull, intended to help stop the spread of Bovine tb, was initially tasked with killing 70% of all badgers in Gloucestershire in a maximum of six weeks. After failing to meet this target an extension of eight weeks was granted, which has today been revoked three weeks early.

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