Regular readers of the blog may recall that the
League welcomed the Welsh Government’s decision to vaccinate badgers when it was announced back in March. With the amount of attention currently being given to the judicial review of the proposed badger cull in England, it is not surprising that news of people walking around woods in West Wales in waterproof clothes has gone astray. Indeed, given the weather we are having at the moment, everyone in Wales is walking around in waterproof clothes, so this oversight is even more understandable. But what is remarkable about these particular cagouled folk is that they are very busy vaccinating badgers.
Over the space of three days in June, Welsh Government operatives trapped and vaccinated 275 badgers. That’s 275 badgers that would have been shot and killed under the English proposals. As a Welsh person, I’m hugely proud that our Government has taken a different approach to England. But what I’m even more proud of is that the Welsh policy is based on robust scientific evidence, not pressure from the farming lobby.
English Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman and officials in DEFRA have said that the problem with a vaccination-only policy is that it is too slow, with the animals having to be caught and then injected. Personally, I think the Welsh figures - 91 badgers a day being caught and vaccinated - contradicts Ms Spelman somewhat. But then again, maybe she isn’t amongst the 592 people who have watched this Welsh Government YouTube film showing just how quick and simple the process actually is.
Let’s hope that the approach we’re taking in Wales, and the decision made in Northern Ireland this week not to cull healthy badgers will have a positive impact on the outcome of the judicial review in England.