Protesters take over Chesterfield streets as 210K badgers ‘needlessly slaughtered’

Protestors held banners saying ‘Stop Killing Badgers’ and marched from Chesterfield Town Hall, through Queens Park and assembled by the Crooked Spire. Some dressed as badgers and acted out being shot by camouflaged shooters.

The badger cull is a controversial government programme backed by farming groups, intended to tackle Bovine Tuberculosis TB), a bacterial infection spread among cows, by killing 70 percent of badgers in designated areas across England – including Derbyshire.

Badgers can carry TB, but Derbyshire Against the Cull campaigners have disputed the effectiveness of culling badgers in fighting with the disease spread among the cattle. They claim that peer reviewed scientific research from respected academics is showing the ineffectiveness of culling.

A spokesperson for Derbyshire Against the Cull said: “We’ve come together today to collectively mourn the 210,000 badgers needlessly slaughtered across the country so far. That’s an estimated half of the entire badger population.

“We know from research that the cull isn’t significantly lowering bovine tuberculosis rates in cattle and we’re at risk of losing badgers altogether in some areas. We want people to know the facts about the cull, not the lies they’re told by DEFRA.

“The badgers suffer terribly, often enduring agony for hours before they die from the shot wound. It is brutally uncalled for. Please join us to help stop it now.”

Badger culling is licensed in Derbyshire and other areas for a six week period, which starts in September. After four years, these areas will be licensed to cull for six months.

Over 6000 badgers have been killed in Derbyshire in the last three years of the scheme. The county has two cull zones, meaning badgers can legally be shot at night, or caught in cage traps for six weeks in an area between, New Mills, Sparrowpit, Tideswell, Buxton, Matlock, Ashbourne and Derby.

Last year, the government promised they would stop extending the badger cull into new areas. However, Environment Secretary Theresa Coffey recently told crowds at various agricultural shows that she will not be sticking to these plans and the cull will continue.