aware of what was going on. Once the new government declared that they were committed to a badger cull as part of their control of this terrible disease, we knew that we were fighting for badgers in England as well as Wales. The Welsh

Assembly passed new laws last year in preparation to the cull so that landowners no

longer had the right to stop access to their land and powers of arrest were given for non compliance as well as for trespass. The thought that these rights could possibly be taken away from us in England

seemed incredible and yet the Welsh Assembly Government managed to do this without too much fuss. It has been a success for badgers but also for science as at last the judges were accepting the value of research done by the Independent Scientific Group in the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT). They have also clarified that to cull badgers would only result in a trivial or insignificant reduction of Bovine TB in cattle and not substantial as required in section 21 of the Animal Health Act 1981. We don’t think for a minute that this will be the end of the matter and sadly, probably will result in more illegal killing of badgers. However we shall remain vigilant and continue to monitor the future, hoping that the Welsh Assembly and our own government will now move forward with vaccination as a control of Bovine TB in badgers. There is of course still a huge problem with Bovine TB in cattle and we must work with farmers to find an answer to this disease that is now so endemic in the cattle population.

Our sincere thanks to all of you who have donated to this cause, those of you who wrote letters to lobby your M.P.’s and also circulated our literature. We are sure, that in our own small way, we have helped towards this result.

We must now continue to fight against wildlife crime, not just for badgers but for so many wildlife creatures that are cruelly treated by sick mankind.

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Say NO to killing badgers!

www.savethebadger.com Tel: 01443 231990