It's time to end the Badger blame game for good

This week, Protect the Wild has formally written to Angela Eagle MP, the Minister of State at Defra, calling for an end to the final badger cull and an end to the wider badger blame game once and for all.

It matters. And it isn’t over yet.

There has been progress. After years of denial, the Government has finally accepted something campaigners, scientists, and the public have been saying for a long time: badger culling has failed. The days of mass slaughter across England are coming to an end.

But here’s the problem.

More than 250,000 badgers have already been killed, and despite this, bovine TB has not been eradicated. New outbreaks continue to appear. In some cases, the disease has spread into so-called Low Risk Areas through the movement of infected cattle.

And yet, badgers are still being targeted.

The final badger cull is happening right now

The last badger cull in England is set to take place in Cumbria (Area 73).

This cull is being allowed to continue even though:

• TB levels in badgers in the area are low

• There is no clear evidence that badgers pose a meaningful ongoing risk to cattle

• The policy was never designed in a way that allows its effectiveness to be properly measured

• Rising cattle TB cases are linked to cattle movements, not wildlife

In other words, this final cull isn’t about protecting cattle. It’s about defending a failed policy.

Killing badgers didn’t work. Vaccinating them won’t fix it.

The Government now says that badger vaccination will replace culling.

But badger vaccination is being used as a political sticking plaster, not a science-led solution. There is no solid evidence that vaccinating badgers reduces TB in cattle. What it does do is keep wildlife in the frame and delay the hard work of fixing cattle-based disease controls.

Bovine TB is a cattle disease. Its persistence is driven by:

• Known testing failures

• The movement of infected cattle

• Intensive farming practices and biosecurity gaps

Blaming wildlife doesn’t fix any of that.

Progress is welcome. But it’s not enough.

Yes, we are closer than we’ve ever been to ending badger culling.

But “nearly over” is not over.

Allowing the final cull in Cumbria to continue, and replacing killing with badger vaccination, keeps the same flawed thinking alive. It sends the message that wildlife must still pay the price for policy failure. That is not acceptable.

We’ve written to the Minister. Now we’re asking you to act.

Our letter to the Defra minister sets out clearly why:

• The final Cumbria cull should be stopped immediately

• Badger culling must end permanently

• Badger vaccination should not be used as a substitute

• TB policy must finally focus on cattle, not wildlife

Alongside that letter, we have launched a new public petition:

End the Badger Blame Game

Stop the final badger cull. End badger culling and badger vaccination for good.

This petition is about drawing a line under more than a decade of cruelty, denial, and distraction.

Badgers are not the enemy. They never were.

If you believe it’s time to stop scapegoating wildlife and demand a science-led, humane approach to bovine TB, please sign and share the petition today.

The closer we get to the end, the more important it is that we don’t let this moment slip.

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Help protect Badgers for good

We’re funded entirely by kind people like yourself. We don’t have major donors or govt backing and so that’s why over the coming weeks you’ll see us doing all that we can to push our 2026 Wildlife Calendar. It’s just such a great way for us to raise funds and you get an awesome calendar in return! :) Packed with beautiful wildlife photos taken by our incredible supporters, like this one by Graham Brace for the month of September!