Please copy and paste the following text and send on to everyone you can.
Subject: Fw: URGENT - Public consultation on badger culling in Pembrokeshire
Dear All
As you may know, Elin Jones of the Welsh Assembly Government recently
stated her intention to go ahead with the - as near as possible - total
eradication of badgers in North Pembrokeshire, as part of a raft of
measures in that area against bovine TB. WAG have now put up a Public
Consultation on their website, until early July at:
http://wales.gov.uk/consultations/environmentandcountryside/090427constberadicationv2/?lang=en
and all concerned members of the public, and all environmental and
wildlife organisations, are urged to respond as soon as possible. Useful
information available on www.dyfibadgergroup.org
Please also pass this email on to all friends, colleagues, workmates
and environmental groups (whether inside or outside Wales) to ask them
to do the same. It is vital that WAG realise that the general public
are well-informed about this issue and will not simply accept the wholesale
slaughter of one of our most valued native mammals.
Apart from the ethical and environmental implications of eradicating
such an important native mammal from such a large area, there is a great
deal of evidence to show that, while cattle measures bring down the
TB rate, badger culling actually makes matters worse. The internationally
validated ISG study, based on 10 years of scientific research and costing
over 12,000 badger lives, concluded unequivocally that 'badger culling
has no meaningful part to play in TB control in Britain'.
In spite of this, there will be no attempt to evaluate the success
of badger culling as distinct from the improved cattle testing, husbandry
and biosecurity measures also being implemented. Instead, if TB
rates go down in that area (as they almost certainly will as the result
of the cattle measures , which have been shown to be successful elswhere)
WAG will consider applying the same package, including badger eradication,
in other areas of Wales.
PLEASE RESPOND NOW!
With many thanks
Aberystwyth Against the Badger Cull