The delight with which the news that Hilary Benn had rejected a badger cull soon turned sour with the news that Elin Jones from the Welsh Assembly still proposes to go ahead with a cull in Wales. Hilary Benn's decision was based on the results of a ten year study costing the tax payer £50 million which concluded that a cull of badgers would in the long run make a bad situation worse.

Elin Jones has based her decision to cull badgers on a three day review by non-expert former Government chief adviser Sir David King.

If you are outraged by this unscientific cruelty please join the demonstration organised by North Wales Animal Rights in Colwyn Bay on Saturday 26th July at 2pm outside the main Welsh Assembly Office at Princes Park, Princes Drive, Colwyn Bay, North Wales, LL29 8PL. There will also be gathering on the promenade at around 3pm for a prayer delivered up by the Rev James Thompson.

Welcoming the reports of Hilary Benn ruling out a cull in England, Trevor Lawson, for the Badger Trust, commented

"A decision against a badger cull would be the right decision, based on sound science, which will allow farmers to move forwards in tackling this disease."

"There is no scientific, economic or practical case for culling badgers to control bovine TB. The most robust research, by the Independent Scientific Group, concluded that culling can make no 'meaningful contribution' to TB control. No-one has presented a robust case to challenge that view. Professor Sir David King, who last year claimed that culling could make a contribution, considered ten years-worth of evidence for just a day with a less expert team. And he failed to consider the costs or practicalities of badger culling."

"Attention must be focused on cattle, the main agents of the disease. The challenges are substantial. We need better and more frequent cattle testing. The current test misses around one in three infected animals. Around 70 per cent of cattle are never tested for TB in their lifetimes. Animal Health [formerly the State Veterinary Service] needs to record the disease on computers rather than on paper and infected cattle need to be removed from farms in day rather than in months."

Welsh Assembly Member would do well to take note. Mass slaughter of these popular animals at great expense and with no benefit will prove to be immensely unpopular and politically damaging.