Under cover of darkness in the English countryside, private contractors are shooting thousands of badgers as part of a nine-year British government programme to control the spread of bovine TB. In this hard-hitting book, Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Badger Trust, gives an inside account of the commercial and political origins of the cull, its flawed science, and the impromptu Badger Army of activists determined to halt it. Foreword by the BBC Springwatch presenter Chris Packham.
Preface: Chris Packham
1. A Black and White Night 13
2. Woven into the Landscape 19
3. A Disease of Cattle 23
4. New Labour 31
5. Gordon Brown Vetoes a Cull 39
6. Cameron's Cull 47
7. Wildlife over Business 61
8. Awkward Facts 69
9. The Badger Army 79
10. Green Movement Fails the Badger 93
11. Defended by Amateurs 105
12. BBC Bias 119
13. Illegal Culls 129
14. TB Burgers 141
15. Owen Paterson 149
16. Vets' Dilemma 157
17. Cost of the Cull 167
18. Farming Future 177
19. Fate of the Badger 187
Badger Voices 195
Index 228
The Author 240
Dominic Dyer is a wildlife protection campaigner, writer and broadcaster. He left school at 16 and joined the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, where he worked on issues ranging from marine environment protection to organic agriculture. In 2000 he left the public sector for the Food and Drink Federation, where he became an expert on the environment and healthy eating trends. In 2008 he was made chief executive of the Crop Protection Association, the trade body for the UK plant science industry. In 2012 he abandoned his career as a food lobbyist and became a full-time wildlife protection campaigner with Care for the Wild. Today he is policy advisor for the Born Free Foundation and chief executive of the Badger Trust.
"A thriller, whodunnit and impassioned polemic – this is the inside story of the badger cull. Dominic Dyer exposes the toxic brew of industrial farming, commercial lobbying and political ambition that is driving the slaughter of the badger. A vital must-read for anyone concerned about the badger's enduring place in the British countryside."
– Patrick Barkham