We’ll pay to cage-trap badgers – NFU

Farm leaders have agreed to pay the extra cost of trapping badgers if experts decide against shooting the animals on sight to combat bovine tuberculosis.

NFU president Peter Kendall said the union would underwrite the additional cost of cage-trapping  if an expert panel ruled that shooting the animals without trapping them beforehand was unsafe, inhumane or ineffective.

The NFU had a responsibility to ensure that 450 farmers in two pilot areas of south-west England were not left facing additional costs should the government decide against the controlled shooting of non-trapped badgers as a culling method, he said.

An initial six-week cull is due to take place this autumn in West Somerset and West Gloucestershire. But some farmers considering whether to sign up to the cull have voiced concern that the cost of the four-year project could escalate – especially if cage-trapping is deemed necessary.

After this autumn’s cull, an expert panel chaired by animal welfare professor Christopher Wrathes will decide whether shooting is a “safe, effective and humane method” of controlling badgers to curtail the spread of bovine TB in cattle, or the animals should be trapped and then shot.

Mr Kendall said he had every confidence that controlled shooting would be allowed to continue. But it would be wrong to expect farmers in the trial zones to fork out additional money if for some unforeseen reason it was decided badgers should be trapped first.

The NFU hopes the pledge to underwrite the cost of cage-trapping will convince more farmers to sign up to the cull. “I’d be a fool to say farmers aren’t worried about cost,” said Mr Kendall. “But we intend to throw whatever resource is required to make sure this happens.”

Mr Kendall declined to put a figure on the cull. But cage-trapping could double the cost, he said. “It would be wrong for farmers in the pilot areas to carry that cost – especially when they are piloting the cull on behalf of farmers in other areas.”

So far, farmers covering 45% of the required area have signed up to the cull in Gloucestershire. Recruitment of farmers in the Gloucestershire area is due to start in early April. If all goes to plan, the NFU will submit a formal application for culling licences to the government in six weeks.

For more on this topic

Badger cull and bovine TB dedicated pages