Inside Oxford: Confronting the Scientists Behind the Badger Cull

Last week I joined members of Oxfordshire Badger Group outside the Oxford Martin Centre, home to Professor Sir Charles Godfray. He is not just another academic in this story. He is one of the most influential figures behind the government’s badger cull policy and the man whose work has been used for more than a decade to justify the mass killing of badgers across England.

In 2018, Godfray chaired the government’s Bovine TB Strategy Review, which gave the green light for further culling under the guise of “science-led policy.” This year, he was once again asked by DEFRA to lead an update of that same review. Published in early September 2025, it repeated many of the same flawed assumptions while failing to address the mounting scientific criticism. Instead of acknowledging the evidence against culling, it called for more funding, more studies, and more time, shifting blame for failure onto everyone except the scientists who designed the policy.

We gathered under his office window to make it clear that Oxford University’s name continues to give credibility to a policy that has killed more than 250,000 badgers and done nothing to eradicate bovine TB. I spoke about the government’s misuse of selective data and the way academic neutrality has been used to shield cruelty and failure from scrutiny. Every credible analysis shows that cattle-to-cattle transmission drives this disease, not badgers.

Then something unexpected happened. As we were leaving, Professor Godfray came out and invited us in.

For fifteen minutes we sat opposite him in his office, discussing the cull, his latest review, and the growing evidence that undermines its foundations. I asked him directly about the Torgerson paper, which exposes major flaws in the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT), the cornerstone of cull science. His response was dismissive. He called it “an ongoing scientific debate,” as if fundamental errors in the data could be brushed aside as just a difference of opinion.

I also challenged him on his position as chair of the new review. I said that given his long involvement and public statements, it was clear he could not be considered neutral. He replied that he was simply asked to update his own earlier review and insisted he was “not pro-culling.” He went further, accusing people on “our side” of being anti-cull regardless of the evidence. I shut that down immediately. We have always based our arguments on what the science says, and the science does not justify killing badgers.

It was also a strange encounter in other ways. When I tried to hand in a petition months ago calling for Godfray to step down from the review, Oxford staff refused to accept it and told me to leave. This time they were all smiles, almost as if the university had decided it was better to play friendly than confront the growing public pressure. Godfray even made an odd point about how he believes in climate change and wants to stop it, as if that somehow put him on our side. It was a bizarre attempt at alignment that missed the mark completely.

We left with an invitation to come back and talk further, but the reality is clear. The 2025 Godfray Review update is a continuation of the same policy failure dressed up in academic language. It sidesteps the collapse of the RBCT, ignores the lack of measurable success from culling, and gives cover to a government still unwilling to admit that the entire approach has failed.

The review blames everyone but the scientists, calls for endless new funding, and repeats the same vague ideas with no accountability. It refuses to confront the simple truth that the badger cull was built on bad science and has been perpetuated by those unwilling to admit they were wrong.

Our position remains the same. Badgers are not to blame for bovine TB. The cull is not science; it is politics. The government has wasted hundreds of millions of pounds, destroyed wildlife, and misled the public. Oxford University should not allow its reputation to be used to give credibility to cruelty.

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