Ban the shooting of badgers immediately
106,108 people signed this petition to the UK Parliament after it opened on 24 September 2020; it closed on 24 March 2021. The Government responded on 12 October 2020. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 21 March 2022.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Ban the shooting of badgers immediately
Shooting of Badgers is licensed by Natural England as part of the DEFRA Badger cull. 24,000+ Badgers were shot in 2019.
Shooting is poorly monitored and Wild Justice believes it has never met the animal welfare standards recommended by a 2014 Independent Expert Panel, whose recommendations were accepted by DEFRA. This method of culling is inhumane and should be banned immediately.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 12 October 2020; the petitions site lists the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as responsible. Its summary:
Natural England carries out compliance monitoring and ensures that each cull company has suitable arrangements and plans in place to carry out an operation that is safe, effective and humane.
The opening 373 words of the 810-word response:
Bovine TB (bTB) is one of the most difficult and intractable animal health challenges that England faces today. Around 30,000 cattle are slaughtered annually due to infection. Our cattle breeders suffer the loss of prize-winning animals and valued herds and this loss creates considerable trauma in the farming industry. It is important to bear in mind that, if left unchecked, bTB could pose an increased risk to animal and human health. It is a particular threat to the dairy and beef industries, which form part of an agri-food sector that contributes billions of pounds to the UK economy each year.
Our 25-year strategy to eradicate bTB in England is founded in science. It applies the lessons learnt from previous attempts to control the disease, as well as drawing evidence from other countries, trial work conducted in the UK during the 1970s and, more recently, the Randomised Badger Culling Trial conducted between 1998 and 2007.
Since the initial badger culls in 2013, a policy of badger control has been rolled out to other parts of the High-Risk Area (HRA) in the south-west and west of England. As of the end of 2019, 57% of the HRA is now subject to a licensed cull of badgers. This policy is starting to yield results. The latest peer-reviewed epidemiological analysis has shown that the incidence of the disease in the first cull areas of Somerset and Gloucester fell substantially, by 37% and 66% respectively relative to comparison areas.
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs entered into an agreement with Natural England (NE) in October 2006 under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 authorising it to perform specified wildlife licensing functions, including those under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Protection of Badgers Act 1992. NE is therefore responsible for granting, modifying or revoking badger control licences under the 1992 Act.
Natural England (NE) carries out compliance monitoring which includes observations of controlled shooting in the field, and the results are published each year on GOV.UK. All applications that are received are carefully assessed by NE to ensure that each cull company has suitable arrangements and plans in place to carry out an operation that is safe, effective and humane.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 561, came from Derbyshire Dales.
104,951 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,157 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Derbyshire Dales | 561 |
| High Peak | 483 |
| Stroud | 451 |
| Isle of Wight | 447 |
| West Dorset | 411 |
| Wells | 409 |
| Torridge and West Devon | 382 |
| St Ives | 370 |
| Brighton, Pavilion | 353 |
| Shrewsbury and Atcham | 344 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 17,328 |
| South West | 14,266 |
| East of England | 11,023 |
| North West | 10,359 |
| East Midlands | 9,680 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 8,479 |
| West Midlands | 8,447 |
| London | 7,609 |
| Scotland | 6,416 |
| Wales | 5,470 |
| North East | 3,442 |
| Northern Ireland | 877 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 21 March 2022. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/333693.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
8307d76d8141f8f5… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.