Environment minister: ‘The badgers have moved the goalposts’
Sorry to proceed from a position of dark or gallows humour this week – but I have to say the assertion our black and white friends have somehow got together the undermine the badge cull by seeking not to cooperate in being killed does take this policy into arena of high farce! This article tells us:
A pilot badger cull in west Somerset is likely to be extended after marksmen missed their target to kill 70 per cent of the animals in the area.
Mr Paterson suggested that the blame for the shortfall actually lay with the “wild” and unpredictable nature of the badger.
He told BBC Spotlight: “The badgers moved the goalposts. We’re dealing with a wild animal, subject to the vagaries of the weather and disease and breeding patterns.”
Officials had originally planned to kill 5,000 badgers during the culls in Somerset and Gloucestershire, but the government now believes that the population is just 3,800. However, the marksmen have still managed to miss their target by 10 per cent.