Is the Badger Cull Working? Ask AI!

Or preferably listen to Tom Langton, someone who knows what they're talking about.

Over the last year Protect the Wild has been proud to work with Tom Langton, a highly-respected ecologist who has been a leading figure in the fight against the government's slaughter of over a quarter of a million badgers to protect the dairy industry.

Tom is a major contributor to the Badger Crowd website and with his permission we have reposted some of his highly informative blogs on Protect the Wild. He has also been working hard on producing information videos and the like. We felt that many supporters would find a linked blog and presentation published this month very interesting and useful (we certainly did). Tom looks at past mistakes and answers some of those key questions we probably all have when it comes to disease transmission and why the government is so insistent on ploughing on with a cull even the Labour manifesto described as ‘ineffective’.

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The Badger Crowd. 02 May 2025: Is the Badger Cull Working? Ask AI!

If you google “Is the Badger Cull Working?”, you get the following Artificial Intelligence (AI) overview:

“The badger cull, designed to reduce bovine TB in cattle, has faced significant debate and controversy, with evidence suggesting it has not been demonstrably effective in reducing disease rates.”

AI cannot always be relied on for accuracy or its ability to summarize complex science. But you can’t argue with that one sentence.

Natural England should ‘Stop the Culls’. Instead, they will almost certainly do this:

• They will announce that around 15,000 badgers were shot in 2024, and this will be deemed a ‘success’ due to their view of ‘anticipated’ benefit’ – as opposed to ‘measured benefit’.

• They will then sign off licences to kill off another 7,000 across 16 counties of England.

They have no ability to say whether what they have done has had any effect on bTB in cattle and they resist scrutiny of uncertainties around this.

They have undertaken no serious efforts to monitor the ecological impacts of removing badgers. It has to be asked whether such actions are lawful? But the courts say the Government is in charge and can use its chosen ‘experts’ for advice.

What chance do badgers have against such blinkered, cruel thinking and an uncaring administration?

How the badger culls will drag on in 2025………….

(Note: Area 44 Avon was not approved to continue in 2024.)

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Tom Langton presentation, May 2025: ‘Infectiousness of cattle – how Bovine TB understanding went wrong in 1980.’

“The answer is managing the disease down via better testing - and there's probably no alternative - a policy that kills badgers or vaccinates badgers by my analysis (and the hard work of others) will make little or no difference."

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Petition

Protect the Wild has been calling on the government to End the Badger cull and adopt other approaches to bovine TB control.

The Government’s TB Eradication Strategy allows the continued killing of badgers, a protected species, until the end of this Parliament, despite the Labour manifesto calling the cull “ineffective.” We believe the badger cull is unjustified and must end.

Our petition is now very close to the 100k signatures needed before the government will consider calling a parliamentary debate.

The deadline for signing is May 25th. If you haven’t signed yet, please consider doing so. Thank you.

• Click the image above or click here to go to the petition

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ADOPT A BADGER AND SUPPORT US FURTHER

At Protect the Wild we are campaigning against badger persecution and the ongoing badger cull.

• We have commissioned a series of powerful animations designed to highlight the cruelty and futility of the badger cull.

• Through our Equipment Fund we’re proud to have been providing trail cams and night vision optics to front-line groups taking direct action in the field to protect badgers.

• We’re syndicating the blog posts of the Badger Crowd – a team of specialised ecologists and scientists who focus on badgers and the cull.

• We created Protectors of the Wild, a free resource that looks in detail at the laws protecting badgers and other animals. Protectors explains what we can do if we see a wildlife crime taking place.

• And we are now calling on the Labour government to honour its promise to end the badger cull.

By adopting a badger with Protect the Wild you will help fund our efforts to protect badgers and help expose wildlife crimes committed against wild badger populations.

As an adopter, not only will you be helping fund vital work, but you will also receive an exclusive Protect the Wild adoption pack including cuddly toy, glossy photo, and an information fact sheet.