NFU welcomes order to protect badger cull farmers

The NFU has welcomed an injunction to protect farmers in and around the pilot cull areas from unlawful actions of animal rights activists.

The union and a number of other claimants were granted an injunction at the High Court in London on Thursday (22 August), stopping farmers involved in the cull from being harassed or intimidated.

The ruling means activists will not be allowed to stage protests within 100m of the homes of farmers in the cull zone, or within 25m of their businesses. The injunction also prevents protesters from entering private farmland without the owner’s consent.

Any individual found breaching these orders could be liable to contempt of court proceedings, a fine or imprisonment. However, legitimate and legal protests against the cull will be allowed to take place.

Speaking after the hearing, NFU president Peter Kendall (pictured) said the injunction was designed to stop extremists making “totally unacceptable” incidents of harassment and threats against farmers and landowners in the cull zones in Gloucestershire, Somerset and the reserve county Dorset.

He added: “For beef and dairy farmers dealing with TB on their farms, these badger culls are an essential part in the fight against this terrible disease.

“Opinion is divided, so, while we recognise that not everyone agrees with the government’s TB eradication policy, and the need to cull badgers to start to reduce this disease in cattle, we do acknowledge their legitimate right to hold peaceful protests.

“What we cannot condone are the actions being used by extreme activists designed to harass, intimidate and threaten others.”

Lawyers acting on behalf of the NFU told the court of a sustained campaign of intimidation, harassment and abuse against farmers and landowners in the pilot zones over the last few months.

Christina Michalos, a barrister representing the NFU, gave evidence of activists deliberately targeting farmers to try and force them to pull out of the cull.

She said cull activists had openly admitted targeting land owners of large estates in Gloucestershire to try and invalidate the cull by dropping it below the minimum required 70% acreage in the cull zone.

Miss Michalos said activists had targeted one large estate in Gloucestershire with nuisance calls, stickers and graffiti and an abusive letter. Security has been increased, including CCTV, and police have been contacted on numerous occasions.

Police said they were “90% certain” that an arson attack on a tractor – after a protest on the same estate in May – was connected to the protest, she added.

Miss Michalos gave other examples of harassment, including rape alarms being set off in paddocks sounding all night, threatening letters and calls “at all times of the day”, and threats of false imprisonment of farmers by locking them up in fields.

A Stop the Cull “wishlist” set up on Amazon.com contained locks for “locking gates of fields that contain badger killers until police turn up”, rape alarms and horns.

It also requests bright torches – 180,000 lumens “probably brighter than the sun” and 8,500 lumens “so bright the reflection from 4m away is blinding”.

Miss Michalos said the use of bright lights was “deliberately designed to disrupt the cull and harass individuals”.

She also told how a five-year-old boy was left traumatised after he witnessed a group of 40-50 activists trespassing on farmland.

Miss Michalos said activists had also encouraged the use of insurers/PPI call back services to harass individuals by registering their details.

NFU president Peter Kendall has also been targeted, including a letter stating he should be concerned about the safety of his family.

His contact details were published on a website and Mr Kendall was phoned at home repeatedly. His 12-year-old son and wife answered the phone to be greeted with repetition of the word “badger” as well as silent calls.

Other farmers and directors of cull companies have also reported receiving threatening letters, emails, text messages and abusive and silent calls.

Lindsay Johnson, counsel representing the Badger Trust, accepted the changed wording of the injunction. He said it was important that nothing should stop protesters from having the right to protest peacefully, but stressed the trust did condone any unlawful activity.

Mr Justice Turner, concluding, weighed up the human rights of farmers and their families to a private life against the right to protest, but said he was “satisfied” and granted the injunction.

But one protester, who represented himself at the hearing, told national press after the hearing that the ruling would “make no difference” and activists would “make farmers’ lives a misery”.

Natural England issued licences for pilot badger culls in Gloucestershire and Somerset on 1 June. Neither the NFU or DEFRA has released a start date for the culls, part of government plans to eradicate bovine TB in this country.

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