Published: October 24, 2012
Wildlife campaigner says badger cull delay is a 'hollow victory'

Wildlife campaigners in the Burnham-On-Sea area have welcomed the Government's decision to postpone the start of its controversial badger cull until next summer.

Anti-badger cull campaigners at East Huntspill's Secret World Wildlife Centre have always claimed the cull was unnecessary and unscientific.

Founder Pauline Kidner said: "It is a hollow victory that we still have to fight against the badger cull next year. We are still in a desperate situation with farmers affected by this terrible disease who suffer not just financially but emotionally as well."

"It would have been so much better to have put this flawed and ill-conceived badger cull behind us and for us to join with farmers to make the Government move forward with the cow vaccine which is far more a reality than the government is letting on."

She added: "I applaud the Badger Trust who have worked so hard against the cull in a measured and peaceful way, vastly different from the scaremongering tactics of those keen to see the badger cull go ahead."

"Both the Somerset Badger Group and Secret World Wildlife Rescue have proved that badgers can be vaccinated at low cost. Vaccination has to be the way forward for both species."

The postponement of the cull was announced on Tuesday by Environment Secretary Owen Paterson, who told MPs that culling was originally delayed by the Olympics and legal proceedings, and now because there are more badgers in the cull areas than previously estimated.

But Shadow Environment Secretary Mary Creagh said: "We warned the government that this cull was bad for farmers, bad for taxpayers and bad for wildlife. The badger cull showed how out of touch the government is and this delay shows ministers are too weak and incompetent to deliver it."