MAJOR NEW DEVELOPMENTS – ACT NOW – WRITE TO YOUR MP
Dear friends,
In June, we highlighted how Zurich University-based Prof Paul Torgerson and his research group found a simple statistical mistake that overturned the conclusions of Oxford’s Randomised Badger Culling Study (RBCT, Nature 2006). The RBCT has been central evidence for Government cull policy since 2010 with devastating consequences for badgers. The emphasis on culling has been costly for farmers and for the nation. The target of eradicating the disease in England by 2038 is unlikely to be met without introducing much more stringent cattle measures.
DEFRA ignored public outcry to appoint an overwhelmingly pro-cull panel to produce the latest “Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) Godfray Evidence Review Update". The report, published Sept 2025 has been heavily criticised for it’s ‘business as usual/ Nothing to see here’ approach. For a full critique see the Badger Crowd blog “Godfray BTB review update 2025: a failure to deliver” and the Badger Trust “Progress or missed opportunity” .
The RSPCA commented “we remain deeply concerned about the welfare implications of badger cull policy. Ethical wildlife management principles deem changing human behaviour should be the first option and lethal methods a last resort. This needs to be at the heart of policy.
The Review’s chapter 6 “The Disease in Wildlife” focuses on badgers. In it, Oxford Professors Sir Charles Godfray and Bernard Silverman finally admit that the RBCT findings were wrong. Godfray makes the astonishing claim that this "makes no difference" to badger cull policy. Silverman presents a new analysis of the RBCT data using a different statistical model that found a weak positive effect from badger culling. Embarrassingly for Silverman and all concerned, his analysis also fails independent expert scrutiny [full details here ].
Here we have yet another Oxford University Statistician making modelling and methodological errors that result in giving misleading policy advice to government. Our scientifically aware readers might ask why the former Chair of the UK Research Integrity Office went fishing for policy based evidence in the first place.
No place left to hide?
Godfray, Silverman and DEFRA continue to advocate culling badgers despite the lack of evidence for any clear disease control
benefit. They are in a hole, backs to the wall and digging deeper. Please help us pile pressure on them.
Parliament will debate the Badger Cull on 13th October in response to Protect the Wild’s massive 100k plus petition.
We urge you to write to your MP (in UK) and demand an end to the badger cull. Protect the Wild have made this very quick and easy !
https://protectthewild.org.uk/end-the-cull-mp/
Better still, write a personal message to your MP. Points to make include:
- DEFRA must accept the lack of robust scientific evidence to implicate badgers in spreading bovine TB, The badger cull and badger vaccination programmes must end immediately.
- Professors Sir Charles Godfray and Bernard Silverman cannot be trusted to give accurate, unbiased policy advice and must stand down
- The Godfray review (2025) is not fit for purpose and should be redone
- There needs to be a fully independent inquiry into the bovine TB/ Badger cull evidence base.
The badger cull and Oxford University's role in perpetuating it is a national scandal. Let's hope the parliamentary debate brings the lack of scientific evidence for culling badgers into the spotlight.
We continue to hope. Thank you for your interest and support.
This blog is taken from our latest "Oxford Scientists Must Speak Out Against Badger Extermination" petition update.
View/ Share / Sign the petition here.