Should a badger cull be allowed in this district?

The Save Our Cattle And Badgers (SOCAB) petition asks Horsham District Council (HDC) to prohibit the culling of badgers on council-owned land and invest in vaccination programmes locally.

The petition, which is one of 130 such petitions nationally, is open for signatures until March 3.

It says: “We ask this because we believe culling to be inhumane, inefficient and unscientific.”

Badger culling is used to try to reduce the incidence of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) which can be passed to humans.

Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is due to make an announcement by the end of February on whether the badger cull policy, piloted in Gloucestershire and Somerset last year, will be rolled out to up 10 new areas in 2014.

The petition says: “This is a national issue which will be of direct concern to the people of Horsham District when DEFRA “rolls out” its culling policy in 2014.

“The object of the petition is to ensure that Horsham District’s badger population is as safe as possible from slaughter and that the already available injectable badger vaccine against bTB is used in as many cases as possible.

“We ask this because we believe the culling policy is inhumane, inefficient and unscientific.”

To see the petition visit the HDC website

Would you sign this petition? Should culling be allowed in this district?