District council passes motion refusing badger cull in its area

A district council in Gloucestershire has passed a motion to refuse a badger cull in property it owns, manages or controls, just days after the first licence was issued by licensing body Natural England.

The motion passed by the Forest of Dean District Council last week stated: “That this council recognises that TB in cattle is a terrible disease which needs eradicating. It believes that the government should work in a sustainable way to this end. The council does not, however, believe that a badger cull will support this objective and will therefore, not allow badgers to be culled on land which the Forest of Dean District Council owns, manages or controls.

“The Forest of Dean District Council must make public safety and the care of our wildlife a priority and to this end this council must endeavour to make contact with all other land owners within its boundary to request that they refuse any culling of badgers on their land.”

Earlier this month Natural England issued a licence allowing farmers to shoot badgers in Gloucestershire.

The move came just days after the Court of Appeal rejected the Badger Trust’s challenge to the plans for the cull put forward by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.