Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust is asking people to support their campaign to stop the potential cull coming to Lincolnshire by signing their online petition and contacting their local MP via their website.

Details of the latest badger culls in over 50 areas of England is expected to be announced in mid-September. Lincolnshire is being considered.   

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust has written to MPs and published an open letter to communities, expressing concern about the hardship farmers face from bovine tuberculosis but highlighting that culling badgers will not stop the spread of the disease.

Lincolnshire has been identified as a low risk area for bovine tuberculosis by the Government’s own agency, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). Earlier this year the Government said that it was committed to expanding and supporting vaccination of badgers and phasing out culling. Yet the reality is the complete opposite and for the first time, badgers could be shot in Lincolnshire this autumn.

Bovine tuberculosis is a highly infectious disease of cattle and since the mid-1980s, the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle has increased substantially. This creates an economic burden on the taxpayer and the farming industry, as infected cattle are culled. However, badgers are not the primary cause of the spread of bovine tuberculosis in cattle, which is via cow-to-cow contact.

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust own cattle, work closely with farming communities and understand the devastation that bovine tuberculosis can cause. But the culling of badgers is not the answer and certainly not within a low risk area such as Lincolnshire.

Please support our campaign to stop the cull in Lincolnshire: take action now