SHROPSHIRE and Cheshire Wildlife Trusts have joined with its fellow organisations across the UK to provide a shared response to the government's badger cull survey.

The Wildlife Trust – which covers all regional branches – is calling on the government to stop issuing badger cull licences with immediate effect.

Based on their analysis of the consultation, Trusts are calling want to stop issuing badger cull licences immediately. This will bring an end to the badger cull sooner than proposed, saving tens of thousands of badgers.

Helen Trotman, people and wildlife manager at Shropshire Wildlife Trust, said that reducing a financial implication fro culls can be burden on the tax payer.

She said: “The proposals include reducing the upfront financial commitment of cull companies for licences to be granted which could ultimately mean tax payers are paying for culls to be completed if cull companies collapse and the costs can’t be recovered from them.

"What’s particularly worrying for Shropshire is the potential for additional badger cull areas to be pushed through in time to meet the deadline.

"This could mean culling over the whole of Shropshire.”

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The Trusts' response to the survey include stop issuing culling licences; implement a cattle vaccine, insisting that cattle vaccination offers the best long-term way to reduce bovine TB in the cattle population; review how cattle are transported around the country and ensure measures are in place to prevent infection spread from cattle to cattle and fast track the transition from culling to badger vaccination.

Helen added: "Recent government proposals suggested an end to granting cull licences in 2022, but this could still result in another 130,000 badgers being killed over the next four years."

The Wildlife Trusts is calling on the public to respond to the consultation, at https://action.wildlifetrusts.org/page/77618/action/1, which ends on Wednesday, March 24 to help end the cull.

The Wildlife Trusts added it has always been firmly opposed to the badger cull and believe that it is an ineffective tool in the fight against bovine TB.