We <3 Hilary Benn. And so will England’s badgers when they find out that their lives have been spared by the Environment Secretary. It’s a victory for the badgers as the government announced yesterday, they will not be issuing licences to cull badgers in England, and will instead focus on the more effective strategy of preventing bovine TB in cattle, by introducing a vaccination scheme.

Everyone at PETA wants to say a big thank you to Mr Benn, for recognising (and making public) that a ruthless cull of badgers could end up making the problem of TB worse. Not to mention the fact that it’s cruel and inefficient. As we said back in April in a letter to Welsh Rural Affairs Minster Elin Jones, going vegetarian and removing the hideous conditions that factory farmed cows live in is the way forward. However the plan in the West seems to still be going ahead. The Welsh Assembly needs to follow Mr Benn’s compassionate and more effective lead on this one.

Image: Daily Mail / CC

Here’s what happened when our Senior Research & Campaigns Co-ordinator (that’s vivisection campaigner for ease) Alistair Currie broke history and met the Secretary of State for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Rt. Hon. Hillary Benn MP yesterday:

“The Secretary of State for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the Cabinet member responsible for food, agriculture and the environment (including climate change) and so, short of the Prime Minister, is the most important politician in the UK on these issues. He’s also a vegetarian and Tony Benn’s son (a great campaigner for animal rights, worked with PETA on numerous occasions). We discussed animal testing with him as his department is responsible for the testing of industrial chemicals, pesticides, nanotechnology and the like. Our team included two scientists from PETA US’ Regulatory Testing division, top experts in their fields.

We told Mr Benn how new technology is far better than animal testing at assessing the risk posed by chemicals and how important it is that the government leads the way in adopting these exciting new approaches. He was very polite and receptive and seemed to be genuinely interested in what we were saying. As we expected, he was non-committal about future action in the meeting but the fact he was willing to meet an animal rights organisation at all was a sign that we are taken seriously and that our arguments are being heard at the highest level. As far as we know, no other animal rights organisation has met a Cabinet member in years.”

So there you have it – PETA takes a multi-faceted approach in the world of animal rights, from outrageous public stunts to serious political lobbying, using every tool we have to help animals.

Image: Make It An Issue / Creative Commons

Today, a letter from the former MP Tony Benn was hand delivered by a PETA campaigner to Burberry, asking them to have a rethink on their outdated fur policy. The letter is addressed to the CEO and urges Burberry to end the use of fur in its designs. Benn, a staunch advocate of animal rights, doesn’t meddle with his words and says, “How desperately sad then that Burberry has taken this huge moral step backwards by choosing to adorn its garments with a product of such misery and suffering, a product that is unacceptable by any British standard.”

PETA continues to campaign against the fashion company until it drops real fur from its collections. When questioned on their use of fur and the letter, a spokesman unsurprisingly had very little to say.

Click to view the letter in full.