A motion has been put forward for a vote at the Dorset County Council meeting on Thursday 18 July. It proposes that the council take a stand against culling badgers and that it objects to badgers being culled on council-owned land.

The motion reads as follows:

Notice of Motion by Dan Brember, County Council Member for Rodwell, under Standing Order 15 – Animal Welfare and Economic Impact that Bovine TB has on the Farming Community To consider the following motion submitted by Dan Brember:

‘This Council recognises the serious and damaging animal welfare and economic impact that Bovine TB has on the farming community.
This Council also notes that the Government’s ‘solution’ to bTB is shooting large numbers of free running badgers at night; a proposal that has met fierce criticism from the public, eminent scientists and animal welfare charities.

This Council is concerned that the Government has ignored public, parliamentary and scientific opinion by ploughing ahead with badger cull this summer in a cruel and ineffective attempt to tackle bTB.

This Council believes that the Government would better serve the farming community by investing money in vaccinations for badgers and cattle and encourage farmers to improve bio-security in order to achieve the long-term eradication of the disease in livestock. This Council resolves to write to Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs to: Highlight the Council’s concern about the practicalities as well as the welfare implications of the current proposed cull. Object to the cull taking place on Council-owned land. Call on the Government to seek alternative methods to tackle the problem of bTB.’

Dorset for Badger and Bovine welfare support this excellent motion and urge Councillors to vote in its favour.

We do not support the briefing paper that was attached to the motion by the Director of Environment Miles Butler. In it he ignores the fierce criticism that the badger cull has come under from those scientists who have studied and carried out long term trials and instead cherry-picks quotes (many now out of date) to support the government’s pro-cull position. In addition, he strongly infers that opposition to the cull is only a moral issue, discounting the strong scientific basis for challenging culling.

Please write to your County Councillor today and urge them to support Councillor Brember’s motion. You can find contact details for your councillor here.