Badger Trust

Last updated

Badger Trust
PredecessorThe National Federation of Badger Groups
Formation1986
Type Registered Charity
Chief Executive
Peter Hambly
Chair
Rosie Wood
Website badgertrust.org.uk

Badger Trust, formerly the National Federation of Badger Groups (NFBG), [1] is an animal welfare charity operating in England and Wales. It represents around fifty local badger groups dedicated to the conservation and protection of the European badger. [2] It states that it is the leading voice for badgers and that its charitable aim is to promote and enhance the welfare, conservation and protection of badgers, their setts and their habitats.

Badger Trust campaigns against badger culling in the United Kingdom. [3] It does this through a variety of methods including reports, presentations and local activity. It has also filed legal challenges in the High Court against planned badger culls, challenging a planned cull in Wales in 2010. [4] Badger Trust won a halt to the Welsh cull. [5] There has never been a badger cull in Wales as a result, which means England is the only home nation to cull badgers - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not. In 2012, Badger Trust's lawyers sent a 16-page legal letter to Natural England, which licensed a badger cull, calling upon the agency to stop a planned cull in Gloucestershire and Somerset; [6] [7] in 2014, the Trust filed a challenge in High Court to this planned cull. [8] This challenge was unsuccessful. [9] In 2016, Badger Trust spoke out against plans to expand badger culling to five new areas in South West England; the group's chief executive said that the four years of badger culling had "been a disastrous failure on scientific, cost and humaneness grounds" and called for a halt. [10] Badger Trust has taken the UK government to international court under the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats on animal welfare grounds and the threat of local extinction of badgers due to the high culling rate. The case is ongoing[ citation needed ]. To date, (up to January 2024), 230,000 badgers have been culled, representing around half of the badger population. [11] In 2024 Badger Trust produced a comprehensive report on bovineTB, with input from Professor David Macdonald, outlining the lack of evidence that badgers were a primary cause. [12] [13]

In 2014, the group issued a report about illegal snaring and hunting of badgers in Britain. [14] Badger Trust sees campaigning around crimes against badgers as a key area of focus and has called for increased sentences to five years, in line with crimes against domestic animals. [15]

In August 2024 Badger Trust launched a legal case against Natural England for going against its own scientific advice and licensing a badger cull in the summer of 2024 aiming to kill around 30,000 badgers. [16]

Badger Trust is carrying out a national survey of badger numbers, in light of the drop in population due to badger culling, "State of the Badger" Report. Trials started in 2024 in Somerset, Lancashire and Hampshire, with a planned roll out throughout England and Wales in 2025-26.

Local Badger Groups are the direct action side of the Badger Trust. There are around 50 local voluntary Badger Groups in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. [17] In Scotland a similar role to Badger Trust is played by Scottish Badgers.

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References

  1. ↑ Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee; Parliament Great Britain House of Commons (15 March 2006). Bovine TB: Badger Culling, Sixth Report of Session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and Written Evidence. The Stationery Office. p. 33. ISBN   978-0-215-02789-4 . Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  2. ↑ Meredith, Charlotte (27 February 2013). "Controversial badger cull given the go-ahead despite outrage from animal welfare groups". Daily Express. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  3. ↑ Driver, Alistair (11 September 2011). "Badger Trust loses legal battle to halt badger cull". The Farmers Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 November 2012.
  4. ↑ Steven Morris, Badger charity challenges Welsh cull, The Guardian (March 22, 2010).
  5. ↑ James Meikle, Judges halt Welsh badger cull, The Guardian (July 13, 2010).
  6. ↑ Badger Trust letter to Natural England attempting to halt badger cull, The Guardian (October 22, 2012).
  7. ↑ Damian Carrington, Badger cull under threat from last-minute legal challenge, The Guardian (October 21, 2012).
  8. ↑ Badger cull faces fresh legal challenge, Press Association (August 21, 2014).
  9. ↑ Adam Vaughan, Badger cull campaigners lose legal battle, The Guardian (October 29, 2014).
  10. ↑ Alice Ross, Badger cull protesters change tactics in response to expansion, The Guardian (August 23, 2016).
  11. ↑ Government releases 2022 kill numbers "Born Free 6 April 2023
  12. ↑ Badger Trust launches major report on bTB
  13. ↑ "The Guardian" Patrick Barkham 4 January 2024 Badger Culls are not the best way to cut bTB
  14. ↑ Damian Carrington, Illegal snaring of badgers rising, report finds, The Guardian (October 2, 2014).
  15. ↑ "Protection of Badgers Act 30 Years". Badger Trust. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  16. ↑ "Farming UK" 8 August 2024 Anti-cull campaigners launch legal challenge
  17. ↑ "The local badger group network – a lifeline for badgers". Badger Trust. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
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