'Badger' flash mob makes cull protest
A badger flash-mob protested today against a British Government-led cull of the animals, outside the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Fifty ’badgers’ danced to Queen guitarist Brian May’s own version of the popular YouTube Badgers song, which was inspired by Queen’s hit record Flash.
They burst into song at noon for five minutes as they called for the Government to ditch badger cull plans in favour of badger vaccinations to control bovine TB.
May said: “The Government’s determination to go ahead with the badger cull this summer once again proves how misguided and out of step with scientific fact and public opinion it is on this issue. Culling badgers is not the answer to eradicating bovine TB.
“Not only is the practice inhumane and impractical, it is also proven to be ineffective in tackling the disease, as has been made repeatedly clear by all the leading scientific experts. There is also a viable alternative, which I support: vaccination.”
The flash-mob was the climax of an Animal Aid campaign that has run throughout the UK in Lush Cosmetics’ 104 shops nationwide, and asks the public to vote against the Conservatives in the local elections tomorrow.
Hilary Jones, ethics director at Lush Cosmetics said: “It is a huge mystery why this cull is going ahead despite all the usual checks and balances of science and democracy pointing clearly to the need to abandon this flawed and unpopular idea.
“There is a clue in the title ’bovine TB’. Let’s get back to solving this at a cattle farming level, instead of scapegoating badgers for our sloppy and intensive farming practices.”
A Defra spokesman said: ``It is disappointing that such a serious issue has been trivialised.''
He added that an injectable badger vaccine is available, but has “significant practical difficulties” as badgers need to be repeatedly trapped and vaccinated each year.
