Bern Convention

Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats

The Born Free Foundation, Badger Trust, and Eurogroup for Animals submitted a complaint in 2019 concerning the culling in England of badgers (Meles meles) which are an Annex III species under the Bern Convention.

According to the complainant, the Government’s policy on the culling of badgers was introduced to control bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle in 2011 and since then England has significantly expanded the badger culling policy, issuing an increasing number of cull licenses across broadening geographical areas since 2013. The complainants further stated that the policy fails to tackle the disease of bTB for cattle farmers who are supposed to benefit from it and that the reduction in numbers of badgers leads to a risk of local extinction and population decline at national level, placing the UK Government in breach of Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention.

In 2021, the Bureau of the Bern Convention welcomed the information that the badger control policy is being phased out in favour of vaccinations, testing, and other less-intensive measures. Due to the caveats to the updated strategy concerning the phase-out of the badger culling policy, the case file remains on stand-by.

 Key Timeline

• 2019 - Case registration

 Other countries possibly concerned

• N/A

 Other international organisations involved

• N/A

 Documents

Complaint form

Regular reports to the Bureau and/or Standing Committee

Please note that all reports received by a Party during one calendar year are included in one single report for that year. Some older reports are not available in digital form.

Other information / documents