1,000 signatures reached
To: Mr Rob Collins, Managing Director, Waitrose PLC
Withdraw Waitrose/Duchy land from the pointless and cruel Badger Cull
Please immediately withdraw the Waitrose/Duchy land where badgers are currently being killed - there is no evidence of any benefit in reducing bovine TB in cattle. It is entirely contrary to Waitrose's brand reputation to be killing innocent wildlife. As customers, we will boycott your stores until you change this policy.
Why is this important?
There is NO evidence that culling badgers makes any meaningful contribution to reducing the levels of bovine TB in cattle. The Randomised Badger Culling Trial, an 8-year, £50 million study during which 11,000 badgers were killed, produced no evidence of benefit. It found that only 1.67% of those 11,000 badgers had communicable bovine TB. The real culprits are not badgers but an outdated and inaccurate testing regime (missing 20-50% of all cases in cattle), poor biosecurity on farms, and millions of movements of cattle around the country. This year, DEFRA wants to see 33,000 badgers killed and Waitrose/Duchy have agreed to culling on their land in the west country. Two-thirds of the public are against badger culling and, as customers of Waitrose and John Lewis PLC, we call on the company to respect the science and to honour the views and feelings of their customers.
