Lancashire - A Bastion for Badgers

Badgers are an iconic, native species in Lancashire and the Lancashire Wildlife Trust is doing all it can to protect them. Campaigns Officer Alan Wright gets a perspective from inside the sett

THE badger cull and bovine TB continue to be big news in the South West, but here in Lancashire we are hoping for a consensus to ensure there is a fairer way to solve this problem, one which doesn’t involve blaming badgers.

The Lancashire Wildlife Trust, along with other Wildlife Trusts across the country, is trying to encourage the farming community to carry out all of the necessary testing procedures on their cattle in order to try to prevent the disease becoming established in cattle in our area.

The worry is that if this should happen, then not only will it have a dramatic effect on the livelihood of our rural community, but there is also the possibility that the disease will spread into our wildlife. If this should happen then vaccination of badgers is one possible way of reducing the threat. This is being promoted by the Wildlife Trusts nationally.

Our chief executive, Anne Selby, is a farmer’s daughter and we have our own herds of conservation cattle, so we are not biased against farmers or towards the badgers. We believe the cull does not stack up enough scientific evidence to continue when there are better alternatives to try to solve this problem.