| ICABS Action Alerts |
Demand end to Ireland's cruel badger snaring
An estimated 100,000 badgers have been cruelly snared and killed by the Department of Agriculture since 1984. The assault on this supposedly protected species takes place under licence from the National Parks and Wildlife Service and is part of a so-called bovine TB Eradication Scheme - a failed and discredited operation that has been described as "slaughter masquerading as science".
Bernie Barrett of Badger Watch Ireland describes how badgers suffer under the Department’s scheme: "The method of capture is a barbaric wire snare which holds the helpless badger in excruciating pain until it is dispatched by gunshot. That’s provided the animal has not agonisingly strangled itself beforehand. When nursing female badgers are snared and shot, their cubs are left to starve to death underground."
According to the Irish Wildlife Trust, 6,000 Department of Agriculture snares are set in Ireland every night and there are fears that the species is now endangered. The IWT is opposed to the badger cull and states on its website: "Badgers can die over extended periods struggling in these hideous devices while their young starve underground. Not only is it barbaric and unethical, recent findings have shown it to be ineffective in the war on bovine TB. Nobody has ever counted badgers accurately in this country and while it has always been assumed that they are common animals, this can no longer be taken for granted."
ACTION ALERT
Sign our petition
Ireland: Stop badger snaring cruelty NOW
Please appeal to Agriculture Minister to show compassion and suspend the cruel badger snaring operation. Remind the Minister that the badger is a protected species in Ireland and that the Animal Health and Welfare Act, for which he is responsible, clearly states: "A person shall not do, or fail to do, anything or cause or permit anything to be done to an animal that causes unnecessary suffering to, or endanger the health or welfare of, an animal". Tell him that research has shown that "badger culling apparently has the capacity to increase badger-to-badger transmission of infection, potentially undermining anticipated reductions in badger-to-cattle transmission."
Minister Simon Coveney
Please write to the Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs and to the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Remind them that the Wildlife Act, for which they are responsible, lists the badger as a protected species. Demand that they stop licensing the snaring and killing of thousands of badgers as part of a cruel and discredited TB eradication scheme.
Minister Jimmy Deenihan
Email: ministers.office@ahg.gov.ie
Constituency Details
Director, Licensing Unit
Minister for Agriculture
Department of Agriculture
Agriculture House,
Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Email: minister@agriculture.gov.ie
Tel: 01-607 2000 or LoCall 1890-200510.
Fax: 01-661 1013.
Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs
23 Kildare Street
Dublin 2
cc: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie
Tel: (01) 631 3804
Fax: (01) 661 1201
18A The Square, Listowel, Co Kerry
Telephone: 068-57446
Fax: 068-57805
National Parks and Wildlife Service
7 Ely Place, Dublin 2
Email: nature.conservation@environ.ie
Tel: 01-888 3214