Yesterday's news brought the sad and disappointing news that the government are pushing on with their plans for a cull of free-ranging badgers. You can read what Martin Harper our director of conservation has to say on this here. This was also discussed in the media here and here.
This brings up all sorts of arguments, emotions and point's of view but the one question that is baffling me right now is why spend £4 million on policing a high risk strategy that does not have public support when that £4 million could be spent on furthering the progress of the vaccine that has had positive results so far...what do you think?
You may be interested in a 38 Degrees petition against the cull which you can find here.
Warden Intern at Otmoor.
Harrier it stands to sense that if as so obvious Badgers are spreading the disease they are dying from it because if you look at T B in humans years ago before modern treatments anyone who caught it died from it and guess where a animal that spends most of its life out of view mostly underground then it is most likely to die underground not on someones doorstep.Even those of us who live in the country with Badgers no more than 200 yards away only probably see one once every 10 years.Even if we go Badger watching at the Sett it is hardly ever we see any except for the outline as it gets dusk.
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Unknown said: My concern with this one is that even when the Vets Association supported this announcement they said it would cut Tb by 10%. That still leaves 90% which it would be easy to say is caused by the farmers themselves but of course that is unlikely to be true.
My concern with this one is that even when the Vets Association supported this announcement they said it would cut Tb by 10%. That still leaves 90% which it would be easy to say is caused by the farmers themselves but of course that is unlikely to be true.
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
Even if some badgers are suffering from this disease I don't see how culling is going to help. The cull would be indiscriminate with healthy badgers killed as well as those that may be carrying the disease. It is also the case that by disrupting the social structures and moving badgers around the incidence of TB in the remaining badger population increases.
So if we are interested in healthy badger populations then vaccination should be pursued.
If this was the greenest Government ever it would have not have cancelled all but one of the vaccination trial areas set up by the previous lot. We could by now had 5 areas of badger vaccination starting to have an effect. Instead we have a divisive cull. What a crying shame.
Seaman, The 10% is something the Vets said today. The actual scientific figure that has been around for a while (even quoted in various farmers publications today) is a reduction of 16%. That still leaves 84% to be dealt with.
The Cotswold Water park sightings website
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The problem with subject like this is most people would think ho poor badgers, then go out and by some steak for the weekend, and yes most people feel oh there is no such thing as a poor farmer, but I am afraid this is something to look into all the details, of the case, some farms can have healthy cattle and a good healthy population of badgers, while some farms have badgers with TB that the cattle are free of it, then we have farms that have both cattle showing signs of T.B and the badgers having it as well, WHY? and has anyone thought it is like the chicken and the egg, which came first, is it the badgers who are giving it to the cattle or is it that the way we have farmed it is the cattle passing it onto the badgers, I am not trying to be flippant, or matter of fact, as I have always said two sides to every tale, and it sometimes seems that not enough is done to really get to the bottom of problems, I probably know what is coming next MONEY, why should it always be down to money, I only hope that the men/women in white have developed something for the dreaded foot/and mouth, as I would hate to see a repeat of the last session.
Harrier, I think you have hit the nail on the head. This is an area where there are probably a lot more than 2 sides. Tb is something that needs to be dealt with but simply relying on culling badgers is unilkely to deal with it.
Thanks Bob I thought I was banging my head againts the preverbial, but I have spent a lot of time both in farming, (and still do) also with different wildlife organisations, and I get so uptight when either side just will not back off, and listen, as I saythere is always more than one side, this is why a forum like this should be used as a tool for helping each other and not for getting on soap boxes, (that comment is not aimed at any particular poster) my only hope that before a whole sale slaughter takes place everyone concerned gets togeather.
Harrier ---I accept that almost certainly most Badgers years ago became infected from cattle,just my opinion,however the cattle problem has been addressed by culling and of course if a herd becomes infected then it is bound to spread from animal to animal before the next test but that in a sense is irrelevant evidence of most infection as it almost certainly came from badgers to that herd.There are many herds never buying any cattle and they become infected so has to be a outside source.
I can say that this nonsense about intensive herds being the problem is nonsense as I would guess no one kept cattle closer together in winter than we did for the period 1960 to 2002 with Badgers on the farm as well and we never had a case of B T B.
Sadly there are lots of twisted facts out there and for sure some people who know little about farming,cattle or the disease glory in making a case that farmers know does not stack up.
Sooty, You know that I am not against finding a method of defeating TB (or even some limited culling) but 'almost certainly came from badgers' is not a fact. It may have done but deer carry TB as well. Movement of cattle spreading TB is also accepted and methods to prevent this are highlighted in the Govt paper. Harrier is right in that this is not a simple one answer cures all scenario. The worst of all outcomes is if different sides line up against each other rather than coming together to achieve a long term solution.