Brian May: Animal welfare community disappointed by Labour’s badger cull stance

The Queen guitarist, 77, who has been campaigning about the issue for more than a decade, is fronting a new BBC documentary in which he investigates how the bovine tuberculosis (bTB) crisis in England and Wales can be dealt with without killing the mammals.

BTB is recognised as a problem which “devastates” farm businesses and badger culling has long been a part of the government response to the disease, despite criticism from wildlife and animal welfare campaigners.

Sir Brian told the PA news agency: “At the moment, it’s fair to say that the whole animal community is very disappointed in the way that the new Labour Government is behaving because they came into power with a manifesto which said that they were going to stop badger culling because it was ineffective, that’s actually in the manifesto.

“And they’re actually not stopping it, they’re allowing it to continue at least until 2026 under the existing licences.

“Keir Starmer does have the power to squash those licences and call a hold right now, on the basis that the badger cull has not worked and he’s not done that, and we’re very disappointed.

“We’re not giving up hope on the new government, but at the moment it’s a very disappointing situation.”

The animal rights activist added: “I don’t feel that the British public should allow this to happen, and I’m hoping there is a big outcry.”

Labour pledged in its 2024 manifesto to “work with farmers and scientists on measures to eradicate Bovine TB, protecting livelihoods so that we can end the ineffective badger cull”.

The Government’s existing policy of intensive and supplementary control will end by January 2026.

In a new hour-long documentary, Sir Brian and his research team investigate how bTB is passed on – finding evidence to suggest that current methods used to detect the disease are “ineffective”.

The programme also documents a four-year experiment in which Sir Brian partnered with large mammal vet Dick Sibley and farmer Robert Reed, whose farm was chronically infected with bTB.

Using methods that emphasised better testing and hygiene inside the farm, the group were able to get the farm declared bTB-free without a cull.

Speaking about their findings, Sir Brian said: “There is so much evidence to show that badgers have nothing to do with the spread of bovine TB, that there is no way you can justify it (culling).”

However, he said “the problem” is that the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been advising that the cull is “beneficial”.

“I think any minister who comes in is obliged to follow the advice that he’s given,” he said.

“Unfortunately, this advice is wrong and needs updating.”

Animal charity the Badger Trust says that more than 230,000 badgers have been killed since the current cull began in England in 2013.

A Defra spokesperson said: “We recognise the devastating impact bovine TB has on the farming community which is why we are committed to beating this insidious disease.

“This government will roll out a TB eradication package including vaccination, herd management and biosecurity measures to achieve our objective of getting to bovine TB free status and end the badger cull.”

Sir Brian co-founded wildlife campaign group the Save Me Trust and has previously spoken out about fox hunting as well as badger culling.

He was speaking on Thursday in Windlesham, Surrey, where his group and the wildlife hospital Harper Asprey Wildlife Rescue are based.

Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers And Me is to air on August 23 at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC Two Wales.