In a move which will infuriate a huge swathe of its half a million membership,The National Trust has announced that it will allow the culling of badgers on its land.
The move reverses the Trust's previous position which saw it distance itself from the national government and devolved administrations' badger culling policy in the UK.
The trust owns 200,000 hectares of farmland in England and Wales, much of it in the areas worst hit by bovine TB, With the proposed license criteria for a cull in England requiring access to at least 70 per cent of land, the trust’s permission for its land to be used is seen as essential to getting a cull off the ground in some areas.
Until now, however, it has refused to give any such commitment. In statement last month issued after Defra published its badger cull proposals, the trust welcomed the ‘principle of science being the basis of bTB control’, adding that ‘in the absence of scientific support for culling badgers, the right course of action must be to focus on the other measures’, including cattle controls and vaccination. It said nothing about allowing culling on its land.
But in an updated statement sent to Farmers Guardian this week, the trust said it would ‘not object’ under the right circumstances.
One National Trust member voiced the concerns of many NT members when he commented on a pro cull farming site....
" I have always been a member of, and made many donations to, the national trust - as soon as even one badger is culled on their land that will change, they will never again receive a penny from me. I also have made a substantial donation to them in my Will, and that also will be change so that they will not receive a penny. I refuse to contribute to a body, to help maintain their property, when they intend to allow puppets of the all too powerful farming lobby to exercise their prejudices.'Given the financial climate and the Trust's volte face on badger culling,will the National Trust's membership hemorrhage over the next year or so?
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