Badgers need your help!

But surely it's not just milk? It's butter, cheese, yoghurt, cream and also many other foods that contain some sort of dairy product! (and there must be thousands of those!). Can't see how only buying milk from certain shops will do anything to help the badgers or end this stupid cull....

As I hardly ever buy the other dairy stuff MarJus it is the only thing I can do in support if I don't want to give up milk altogether. Doesn't every little gesture we make help?

Updates on petitions currently running to show the overwhelming opposition to the culling of badgers;

Government e-petition - 64,165

38 degrees - 66,207

The petition site - 27,483

A few posts have gone off on a bit of a tangent, let's keep this thread on topic please. Has anyone written to their MP's about the cull and got a response back?

e-petition is now up to 65,306!

Any chance of the badgers getting up a petition for a cull on judges and politicians-----------no i thought not...........:-(

The Badger debate was on Newsnight last night. Bill Oddie was talking for the badgers.

I have not had any milk for a week now.

Is it a problem?  No.

Jennifer T said:

Meant to post this earlier. This from Chris Packham in the Telegraph.

Thank you Mrs T for bringing some balance to the debate.

Those of you who have written to your MP's regarding the badger cull may have had some response, what did you think to it?  If you are planning on writing again or for the first time, here are some possible questions you might like to consider asking;

1. What surveys will be carried out in the pilot cull area to accurately assess the number of badgers present, who will carry out these surveys and what training will they have?
2. What safeguards will be put in place to ensure that the local extinction of badgers does not occur as a result of the pilot culls?
3. What monitoring will take place to establish the impact of shooting free ranging badgers on their movements and social groups (perturbation)?
4. What monitoring will take place on the impact of badger culling on the numbers of bovine TB outbreaks in cattle both within the culling areas and in the area surrounding the cull and when will this information be publicly available?
5. What assessment will be made of the number of badgers that are killed in the pilot culls that are a) carrying bovine TB and b) are not carrying the disease?
6. What work has the Government carried out to ensure that the two badger pilot cull areas are scientifically representative of all areas where culling is being considered?
7. Given recent comments from within the farming community, what steps are being taken to improve bio security on farms in areas of the country significantly affected by bovineTB?
8. How many badgers could be vaccinated with the £2 million that it is estimated will be spent on policing the badger pilot culls?

 If you do ask your MP any of the questions and you get a response, please let us know, post it in this thread if you like!

Thank you Sparrow,thank you Ian,you are quite right and I am happy for someone to voice their opinion but it needs to be the truth.I have deliberately stayed off this thread as I felt I was on it too much and although I have always stated am a badger lover and not necessarily in favour of a cull it seems to me people dislike farmers and believe farmers hate badgers which to me seems at odds with the facts that farmers have allowed badgers to prosper on their land.I will tell you what is wrong with that stockmans statement.

Although SOME scientists disagree the cull is driven by scientists so there is disagreement not scientific proof against the cull.

Cannot be anything to do with bio -security,animal husbandry on farms etc as before any animal is moved it has to be T B tested by a vet so the only possible weak link is if the test is not accurate.

In one place having a go at farmers he states they are weak doing things and let such as mad cow disease spread from cow to cow.NOT one cow ever caught that disease from another cow on the farm it came from the feed where thepeople who processed meat and bone meal were given easier rules to process it and no way could farmers using food have any knowledge of looming problems.

Does this person seriously think any farmer would do things that may increase the chances of his herd becoming infected,of course not as the after effects are the worst of all as he cannot sell any animals except for slaughter until clear probably at the best one year but more likely at least two or three,this means say a 110 cow herdwhich wants to sell about75 calves a year has to somehow find buildings and food for them and perhaps another batch or two the following years,a almost impossible task as obviously farmers use all the buildings already.

Not very likely spread from cow to cow as when first one or doubtful found ministry test regularly with the intention of stopping this.

The biggest nonsense is about water troughs being a reservoir of this disease well in forty five years never cleaned a trough out unless there was a special reason and never had a T B case either.Obvious unless that trough becomes infected it cannot spread it.

He states farmers no isolation facilities or do not do it well wrong once again it is a requirement of any notifiable disease to isolate it and any suspected of T B.

Absolutely no evidence pain etc increases likelyhood of T B.

Finally I would say to this stockman the same as I said to a ministry vet who was preaching to me about a disease detail.WHO DO YOU THINK CARES MOST ABOUT GETTING THING RIGHT TO AVOID DISEASE ME OR YOU.in this case the farmer or this stockman.

My guess at risk of doing him a disservice is that for some reason he has a massive gripe against farmers,perhaps he has lost his job as there is obviously something.

There must be so many farmers with different thoughts about badgers but have never heard one,even those of us who love badgers,we all agree badgers are involved however innocet victims they are just like the cattle and farmers.

INDEED CATTLE NEED YOUR HELP.

My immediate family started with no cattle and built up a pedigree herd over many years always breeding each generation better than the last does this silly person think we would not take all steps possible to stop any disease getting in that herd.We also had a badger sett occupied on the farm all that time and those badgers were obviously clean and we enjoyed having them especially the children once our son rather silly grabbing one young one and cuddling it and it will be a crime if those badgers because of lack of action to control this disease eventually catch it as the way it is spreading that is inevitable.

Ian,sorry to have gone on but there are so many obvious inaccuracies in that statement that make a mockery of it.Like all things I accept there will be some bad eggs as in all parts of society,but for sure farmers are upset at losing their animals and will do all they can to keep disease at bay.