The new Environment Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, has indicated that she intends to extend the badger cull to new areas of England this autumn.

We want to stiffen political opposition to her plan by sending every MP a copy of Dominic Dyer’s book, Badgered to Death, before a parliamentary debate on the cull on 27th March 2017.

The debate was triggered by more than 100,000 people signing a government e-petition demanding the cull be ended. The petition was started by the naturalist Simon King. It warned: "Against scientific advice & before a four year trial has completed, the government is now expanding the cull to new counties – tens of thousands of healthy badgers could be killed."

The the badger cull was begun in 2013 in an attempt to reduce levels of bovine TB in cattle. Since then 15,000 badgers have been slaughtered. Yet none of the dead badgers has been tested for TB and nearly 7,000 have been killed by a free shooting method which is considered ineffective and inhumane by the government's independent expert panel and by the British Veterinary Association. So far the cull has cost the public £35 million.

In February, the London Zoological Society told the government “there is thus far no evidence of any disease control benefits.”

There is a way to fight back against this unscientific and cruel policy. A letter from Dominic Dyer putting the scientific and welfare case against the cull will accompany every book.

Costings per book
Badgered to Death (ISBN 9780993040757). The publisher will supply at half of £8.99 RRP (£4.49), plus £1 P&P, crowdfunding fees of 27p per book, and Visa charge of £17. Total of £5.93 per book x 650 MPs = £3,854