Frequently asked questions about badgers and bovine tuberculosis
We aim to answer your questions following the Government's announcement that it will be piloting its Badger Control policy in two areas in 2012. Please read through these before contacting Natural England with a query.
Badger control licences
1. When will Natural England be ‘open for business’ to determine licence applications?
2. Who can apply for a licence?
3. How many licences will be issued?
4. Why only two licences?
5. When will the first licences be issued?
6. When will the first culling take place?
7. Where will the culling take place?
8. Will you report on how many badgers are culled?
9. Who will be doing the culling?
10. Who is providing the training?
11. I own/manage/farm land within one of the proposed cull areas, what can I do if I do not want to take part in the cull and do not want badgers on my land/property to be culled?
Natural England's role
12. Why is Natural England, a conservation body, involved in this?
13. What about Natural England's duty to protect wildlife?
Badgers
14. Why do badgers have such strict protection?
15. How many badgers are likely to be culled?
16. Won't culling badgers above ground risk leaving dependent cubs to die underground?
17. Will culling badgers to control bTB wipe out local badger populations?
18. Does the Badger Control Policy change the way licences are issued for other purposes?
Vaccination
19. Do people need to apply for a licence to vaccinate badgers?
Badger control licences
1. When will Natural England be ‘open for business’ to determine licence applications?
Natural England’s first task is to determine the two applications from areas participating in the pilot. Two areas will be selected by Defra from a short-list submitted by the farming industry and invited to submit an application for a licence to Natural England.
Further information on when other areas can submit an expression of interest for a licence will be available in the New Year.
If you are thinking about applying for a licence, however, and would like to know more, our Badgers and bovine tuberculosis page explains how the system works.
2. Who can apply for a licence?
Initially only two licences will be determined; and the location of these will be chosen by Defra from a short-list submitted by the farming industry.
Further licences to cull badgers will not be issued until the pilot phase is complete. Subject to evaluation of the pilots by Defra’s independent panel, a further 10 licences could be issued in 2013.
If the policy is implemented more widely, anyone will be able to apply for a licence. However, licences to cull badgers will only be issued where rigorous criteria are met. These criteria are set out in Defra’s Guidance to Natural England.
Natural England’s bTB enquiry line advisors will be available to help potential applicants in preparation of any future license applications.
3. How many licences will be issued?
The Government has decided to pilot the badger control policy before proceeding further. This means that we expect only two licences to be issued in 2012.
4. Why only two licences?
The Government wants to evaluate the effectiveness, humaneness and safety of controlled shooting before rolling out the policy more widely.
5. When will the first licenses be issued?
We’d expect to issue the first two licences in time for licensed action to begin in the early autumn of 2012. Subject to an analysis of the effectiveness, humaneness and safety of the methods used in the two pilot areas, up to 10 licenses could be issued in 2013.
6. When will the first culling take place?
Licensed activity could commence in early autmn 2012.
7. Where will culling take place?
Defra have selected two pilot areas, one is in West Gloucestershire and the other in West Somerset. These were taken from a short-list of eight areas that were submitted by the National Farmers Union and National Beef Association, on behalf of the farming industry.
West Gloucestershire Area description: The application area is located mainly in the county of Gloucestershire. The area lies predominantly within the council districts of the Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury, and parts lie within the districts of Wychavon, Malvern Hills and the south east part of the county of Herefordshire. The application area does not include the area of the public forest estate in the Statutory Forest of Dean.
West Somerset Area description: The application area is located in the county of Somerset. The application area predominantly lies within the council district of West Somerset and part lies within the district of Taunton Deane.
Please note that for security reasons we will not publish maps of the two pilot areas, nor will we identify individual land holdings or participants. The culling of badgers is a sensitive issue and we believe that the release of this information could, by helping to identify areas where the control of badgers is proposed, impact adversely upon the protection of individuals, businesses and public or private property.
8. Will you report on how many badgers are culled?
Yes. This information will be posted on our web site periodically.
9. Who will be doing the culling?
Neither Government nor Natural England will be culling badgers.
Culling could be undertaken by farmers/landowners themselves, their employees, game-keepers, deer-stalkers or specialist employees acting on their behalf, as long as they have the appropriate expertise and proof of competence.
The level of competence in rifle marksmanship required is equivalent to that for the Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1 qualification. Anyone carrying out the actual shooting of badgers under licence (rather than just assisting e.g. by holding a spotlight) will be required to demonstrate an appropriate level of marksmanship, through appropriate training. In addition, all persons shooting badgers under licence must have received specific ‘top up’ training on the humane shooting of badgers.
10. Who is providing the training?
It is being organised and provided by the industry and must be approved by Government.
11. I own/manage/farm land within one of the proposed cull areas, what can I do if I do not want to take part in the cull and do not want badgers on my land/property to be culled?
Culling can only take place on land where the farmer and/or landowner has given permission for it to take place and has signed an agreement giving access to those who are carrying out the cull. No one can come on to your land to carry out the culling of badgers under this policy/licence without your permission.
Natural England's role
12. Why is Natural England, a conservation body, involved in this?
Natural England has two clear and distinct roles.
Natural England is the Government’s conservation adviser and England’s wildlife licensing authority. As such we routinely provide advice on a wide range of issues concerning the natural environment. We have experience and expertise in wildlife licensing.
The Government has decided to go ahead with localised badger culling. Our job is to process applications thoroughly and efficiently; and to ensure that licensed badger control activities are then carried out effectively and humanely.
We recognise that bTB is a very serious disease that needs tackling and we believe that in the long term it can only be tackled through a range of measures.
13. What about Natural England's duty to protect wildlife?
Any control of badgers must be conducted in such a way that it does not endanger badger populations or lead to local disappearance of the badger. NE takes this into account in deciding if a licence can be issued and, if issued, what conditions should be attached to the licence.
Badgers
14. Why do badgers have such strict protection?
Protection for badgers was originally introduced in the Badgers Act 1973 for welfare reasons, to protect them against acts of cruelty, such as badger-digging and badger-baiting. Together with various amendments this was brought together in a consolidation act; the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. Together with various amendments this was brought together in a consolidation act; the Protection of Badgers Act 1992
.
15. How many badgers are likely to be culled?
It’s impossible to say at this stage, as we don’t know the overall number of licences that will be issued. Defra estimates that for a 150km2 cull area the number of badgers culled over 4 years would be between 1000 and 1500. Each licence will have limits on the number of badgers that can be killed in that particular area. Annual monitoring will also take place.
16. Won’t culling badgers above ground risk leaving dependent cubs to die underground?
Natural England will not licence the killing of badgers during the breeding season when there is a significant risk of dependent cubs being abandoned, or when the welfare of trapped badgers is at risk due to poor weather. A ‘close season’ will be operated during this period (close seasons: 1 February to 31 May for ‘controlled shooting’ and 1 December to 31 May for cage-trapping – all dates inclusive).
17. Will culling badgers to control bTB wipe out local badger populations?
No, this won’t happen. Widespread culling is not going to take place – licences to cull badgers will only be issued in circumstances where rigorous criteria are met. Even where licences are issued conditions will be imposed to limit the number of badgers that can be culled to ensure that local populations are not driven to extinction.
18. Does the Badger Control policy change the way licenses are issued for other purposes?
It doesn’t. The government’s policy is to allow the issue of licences under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 to cull badgers for the purpose of preventing the spread of bovine TB. This policy will apply solely to licences for this purpose. The badger remains a protected species.
Licences can be issued under the Act for a range of other purposes*. These are dealt with under separate policy guidelines. It should be noted that for some of these purposes, such as development, the law only allows licences to be issued to interfere with setts, not to trap or kill badgers.
*For the purposes of development, for preservation or archaeological investigating of scheduled monuments; for investigating offences; for agricultural or forestry operation; for drainage works or for flood defence and other similar purposes.
Vaccination
19. Do people need to apply for a licence to vaccinate badgers?
The vaccine currently available for badgers needs to be injected. As this requires the badgers to be restrained, licences are required to catch the badger (under the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 ) and also to use a cage trap (under the Wildlife & Countryside Act ). In addition, if the person doing the vaccination is not a Vet, they need to have had specific recognised training, in accordance with the requirements of the Veterinary Surgery (Vaccination of Badgers Against Tuberculosis) Order 2010. In the longer term we hope oral vaccines will become available. These would not require licences to trap the badgers, but like any animal vaccine would need to go through a veterinary medicines approval process before being available for use.
