Foster Watch #5 - Don Foster Abstains on Latest Badger Cull Vote

FOSTER WATCH
is a series of posts following Bath MP Foster, who is now Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government. Details of Don's voting record can be found at http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?id=uk.org.publicwhip/member/40062&showall=yes#divisions



Back in August 2013, Don told the Bath Chronicle that he was 'pressured' into voting for the badger cull, having been told by the former Liberal Democrat Chief Whip that he had to 'toe the party line', and that preferred choice would be to abstain (see here for full article). Of course, now Don is the Lib Dem Chief Whip, and it's now his job to make MPs vote against their wishes.

This week the badger cull was debated yet again in parliament, and yet again the pro-culllers lost the debate - 219 to 1, although unfortunately this vote is non-binding and won't by itself stop future culls. However, some pro-cull MPs chose to abstain, because the report on last year's cull has yet to be published. Don chose to abstain, and then sent the following e-mail to his anti-cull constituents:

"Morning, 

Thank you for contacting me regarding the vote in the House of Commons on 13 March regarding the possible extension of badger culls nationwide. 

As you may be aware, I decided to abstain from voting on this motion and I would like to take this opportunity to explain the reasoning behind my decision. I chose to abstain as I acknowledge and agree that the trials that took place had numerous shortcomings in terms of cost, humaneness and achieving targets.

However, I did not chose to vote for the motion as I believe that we should not side line the issue of bovine TB, but instead endeavor to quickly develop viable alternatives to tackle bovine TB.

Originally, I voted in favour of the trials taking place as bovine TB is a terrible disease that results in the deaths of tens of thousands of cattle every year. Around 28,000 cattle were slaughtered in England in 2012 alone as a bovine TB control measure. It is estimated that we could be paying as much as £1 billion over the next decade if we do nothing to stop the spread of this disease.

Badgers and cattle transmit bovine TB between each other – the scientific evidence to support this link is now beyond dispute. It is equally clear that no other country has managed to make significant progress on bovine TB without tackling how the disease is spread by wild animals. It was for this reason I voted in favour of two badger cull pilots going ahead this year.

However, since the trials started it has become clear that they were not being completely successful and because of this I could not agree to a national roll-out of further cull trials unless I was convinced of the safety, humaneness and effectiveness of these initial trials.

The trials have not reached the target of removing 70% of the badger population, with initial estimates suggesting the trials reduced the badger population by over 30% in the Gloucestershire and around 60% in the Somerset.

It is due to these short comings that I support developing a viable alternative to badger culling. However, at the moment this alternative does not exist as the option of vaccinating badgers, requires them to be trapped and vaccinated on a yearly basis, which I sure you will agree is logistically problematic. The current vaccine available is only around 70% effective, this poses further problems when you consider that in disease hotspots it is estimated that a third of badgers will have bovine TB.

For this reason, it is clear that we need to advance and accelerate work in developing a viable alternative and I am grateful for the work being done by the Wildlife Trust to advance this alternative. The Government is also investing £11.7 million in vaccine development over the next three years.

Furthermore, George Eustice, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, delivered a statement at the end of the debate yesterday. You can read this at the following link http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140313/debtext/140313-0004.htm and scroll to 4:45PM.

I hope that this is helpful in explaining my position on the issue of badger culls. Please do not hesitate to contact me further on this matter on any other.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,

Don"

Well, where do we start with that? Obviously Don has forgotten that he was pressured into voting for it and attempted to make up an excuse for voting in favour of it. TB declined by 3.4% in cattle between 2012 and 2013 without badger culling - Defra's figures are wrong. Vaccination has been shown to work in Wales - TB has declined by 24% as a result far more than than the 16% reduction that even the government admits that a badger cull could deliver (see here for reference). Last year it was calculated by badger expert Professor Rosie Woodroffe (no stranger to badger culling, as she was involved in the last badger cull, but like all good scientists has accepted that her findings showed that it would make 'no meaningful contribution' to tackling the problem) that the cost of badger vaccination would be £2,250 per square kilometre per year, and that the cost of culling, including the cost of policing, would be £2429 per square kilometre per year (reference). Furthermore, the charity Care for the Wild estimated the cost per badger in last year's cull was £4121 (reference) and in January Biocensus reported that the cost per square kilometre was £12857, with just £3913 per square kilometre for vaccinations in Wales (reference). Vaccination could potentially be even cheaper as we know that there's a lot of potential volunteers who would be willing to help with vaccinating badgers for free (several of our friends recently attended badger handling courses, and many more people across the country have attended similar courses), if it meant a complete end to culls.

Don correctly states that "no other country has managed to make significant progress on bovine TB without tackling how the disease is spread by wild animals", however he neglects to mention that so country has ever solved the problem by culling either. Last year's cull failed to meet the target of killing 70% of badgers in the cull zones, and, which could potentially make the TB problem in these areas worse due to the peturbation effect caused by fleeing badgers (reference). Lastly, as no badgers were tested for TB in last year's cull, there's no way of knowing how many badgers were carrying the disease in the first place. The cull was never going to work, and farmers are being conned. The choice between vaccination and culling is a no-brainer - vaccination is cheaper, delivers better results than culling, and will help to build bridges between farmers and badgerists, not create divisions. Don appears to be on the fence with this issue - e-mail him the facts here: donfoster@parliament.uk

For more on the badger cull, here's our in-depth look at the issues: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-badger-cull-what-you-need-to-know.html

For more on Don Foster, the Foster Watch home page is here: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

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Badger Cull Protest Outside Don Foster's Office, 8 July

Bath Badger Walk and Bath Against the Badger Cull have been posting details of a forthcoming demonstration outside Bath MP Don Foster's office on Monday 8th July.

Don Foster, who last week voted in favour of the badger cull (despite previously voting against it), has enraged local opponents to the cull, some of whom have written to Don to express their disappointment (see here for his response: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/foster-watch-4-dons-revised-opinion-on.html).

The demonstration will be held outside Don's office at 31 James Street West, Bath, BA1 2BT from 12.30 in the afternoon.

The Facebook event page can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/events/481387925275375/

At the time of posting, 18 people had confirmed that they would be attending, with 27 maybe attending. With several weeks to go, many more may be joining them as word gets out.

This will be the third demonstration in Bath against the badger cull, following demonstrations in October 2012 and in May 2013.

For more on the badger cull, see my in-depth article here: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-badger-cull-what-you-need-to-know.html

For more on Don Foster and recent actions of his that have caused his constituents to cry "shame on you", check out FOSTER WATCH here: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html

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National March Against the Badger Cull in London

Nation March Against the Badger Cull, London, 1st June 2013

With the mounting criticism of the government's policy of culling badgers to combat TB, it was only a matter of time before a huge demonstration took place in London.

A large group of badger activists set off from Bristol on a coach, stopping near Bath to collect members of Bath Against the Badger Cull, and headed up to London for the day. The atmosphere on the coach was vibrant as people got to know each other, and a team set about painting people's faces with black and white facepaint. Almost every was dressed appropriately for the day in black and white, with many "Stop the Cull" t-shirts and badger masks on board.

Arriving at the start of the demonstration outside Tate Britain, we were greeted warmly by a crowd of around 2000 people dressed as badgers. As some one put it - "There's never been so many badgers in London!". A range speakers from various organisations addressed the crowd, including Queen guitarist Brian May. See the video below for some of these speeches and footage of the march.

The march then set off with banners and placards raised, good spirits and lots of chanting, as well as sound system on wheels with a painted wooden badger on top.

The march was diverted at the end, and so we didn't go past parliament, due to a BNP demonstration taking place at the same time. Following the march, many headed to St James's Park for a picnic, while others, including Bath and Bristol activist, went on to picket the DEFRA office. On the way, we passed the pitifully small BNP demonstration, and some dressed as badgers chased a few of the fascists hanging around nearby.

For more on the badger cull, see: The Badger Cull - What You Need to Know

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Bath Badger Lovers Walk - Opposing the Cull

Badger Cull demonstration outside the Guildhall in Bath

 Following a previous demonstration against the badger cull in the city centre, around 25 badger activists took to the streets on 6th May bank holiday to protest the cull. Organised by Bath Badger Walk and promoted by Bath Against the Badger Cull, the demonstration sought to publicise the negative impact of the cull and provide advice on how to combat it.

Starting out at the Guildhall, the badgerists then hit Milsom Street armed with leaflets, placards and a badger puppet and engaged with the public about the badger cull. A nice surprise was found at Lush, who had a Stop The Cull box displayed in the window.

Stop the Cull box in the Bath Lush window

Finally, the roving demonstration moved to Starbucks to protest against their sourcing of milk from the cull zones. The manager was annoyed at our presence, but no security or police came to move us on (it should be noted that since this demo took place, Starbucks has stopped sourcing milk from the cull zones).

With the anti-cull campaign gaining momentum, demonstrations such as this are only going to attract more and more people. Cull supporters of Bath - beware!

For more on the badger cull, see The Badger Cull - What You Need to Know

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Badger Cull Demo in Bath - 27/10/12

Following demonstrations elsewhere in the UK, including several recent demos in Bristol, a group of anti- badger cull activists staged two demonstrations in Bath City Centre today against supermarkets selling milk from the cull areas.

Despite the cull not going ahead this year, and a vote in parliament in which the cull was opposed by a significant majority of MPs, the government plans to proceed with the cull in June 2013. This has given the campaign against the badger cull another 6 months to up their efforts to stop it from going ahead.

Around 15 demonstrators gathered outside Sainsbury's Local in Kingsmead Square at 10am armed with placards and leaflets, and remained there until 12:00 mid-day. Several demonstrators wore masks and costumes, including badgers, foxes and a gorilla, and spoke to many members of the public about the issues surrounding the cull. A security guard stood at the entrance watching, however no attempt was made to move demonstrators.

At noon, several demonstrators relocated to Tesco Express to demonstrate there for another hour. Placards reading "Stop the Badger Slaughter" and "Stop the Cull" were leant against the walls of the store, and the manager requested that they should be removed. The police were called, however the police made no attempt to remove the placards as the demonstrators were within the law.

Now, more than ever, is the time for action on the badger cull. Protests such as today's demonstration, walks around the cull zone, petitions, lobbying government and MPs and spreading the facts about the bader cull - most importantly that the scientists who killed thousands of badgers to see if it would make a difference to bovine TB concluded that it would make "no meaningful contribution" - need to continue, and the sucesses of the past week need to be built upon in order to ensure that this senseless killing does not go ahead.

See here for background information about the badger cull with links and references (an updated version of this is in the works): http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-badger-cull-facts-alternatives-and.html

For more information, visit the Badger Killers website: http://badger-killers.co.uk/

There are many anti-cull Facebook groups, those relevant to today's demonstrations are Stop the Cull and Bath Against the Badger Cull. Please "like" these pages and share their posts.

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