What's A Few Badgers Between Friends?

[AB Editor]

So, they're rolling out a badger cull trial in Gloucester...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23845851

... And there will be protests, naturally. Will you be joining them? Or do you think the cull trial is worthwhile?

[emmie]

culling isn't gentle i would have thought, you have to flush them out from the sett, and then shoot them.

[shoota]

Badgers pose as much of a threat to our food source (domestic cattle) as a marauding pack of wolves would.
Would you not intervene and eliminate that pack of wolves?

[boxtops]

emmie, I would argue that if the outcome is that the badgers aren't the culprits, there will be no argument for carrying on with the future proposed culls.

[shoota]

Left intact the 19% of the badger population that was found to have TB (in Ireland) will infect the other 81% and eventually there will be no badgers.
Human intervention will therefore save not only untold thousands of cattle but also the badger presence in the UK.
How can that be wrong?

[brionon]

Why not cull the cattle to save the Badgers ?

[mikey4444]

What I want to know is....if all the rent-a-mob are in a field near Minehead, who is protesting against fracking in Sussex ?

[Prudie]

Ed you asked a question about an emotive topic and seemed to accept that there would be those anti. You didn't make it clear however that people like me who you consider precious and unable to debate are not allowed to express their opinions without being put down. So anyone without the skills to present an erudite argument should bog off and join a tea thread?
And as for my 'male' remark I stick by it, from the little I know I've not heard a single female in the media condone this cull.

[pixie373]

I may have missed this in all the many posts here, but as humans are vaccinated against TB, how dangerous is it, exactly, to eat infected meat?

[AB Editor]

So you're not going to address any of the points I raised Prudie?

I think that your suggestion that there's not a single woman in favour is fanciful and flattering your sex more than is deserved!

However, I didn't mean to upset you in any way.

Pixie - I think Defra are still allowing the sale of meat from TB cows, so not that unsafe. I'm only going on something I read earlier in the thread.

[pixie373]

Thanks, Ed. I don't think a cull can be justified in any case. But I'm now wondering what the real reasons are for a "trial".

[AB Editor]

Boxtop, re:deer someone pointed out (forgive me for not looking back for your name) that the Silka deer which is so numerous aren't "native" - and are not protected in the same way Badgers are. I think this contributes to not being such an emotive issue.

[Khandro]

It's an outrage! NO scientific evidence showing it will make any difference and could make the situation worse. The TB virus lives in the soil anyway for at least 10 years. Telly pics always show cattle roaming in wide open fields, but intensive farming is more the norm and the biggest contributing factor in bovine TB.

[dunnitall]

I don't agree with the cull its not right they should prove without doubt that tb comes from the badgers before wholesale slaughter. All this is about human interference and if men didn't mess with nature then nature would do things naturally. Cows might carry tb naturally too so why not treat the cause before killing other animals just in case! My blood boils over this.

[dunnitall]

Just seen your post khan do and totally agree with you.

[DrFilth]

pixie373 i posted this yesterday


> Meat from cattle slaughtered after testing positive for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is being sold for human consumption by Defra, the food and farming ministry has said. <

> "The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has confirmed there are no known cases where TB has been transmitted through eating meat and the risk of infection from eating meat, even if raw or undercooked, remains extremely low." <


from sky news report

DrFilth
link to report


http://news.sky.com/story/1109703/meat-from-diseased-cattle-sold-by-defra

6:02 Tue 27th Aug 2013

[Prudie]

Sorry I'll have to look back, I hadn't realised that apart from the 2 remarks I commented on you had raised points at me (although I am at work, shouldn't be on here and undoubtedly won't understand the points you made or be competent to respond :-))
I'm sure there are women in favour, I've just not seen any in the media say so.
It was me who mentioned Sika deer, as an introduced species they have run riot and I can understand why they need controlling. I just can't feel comfortable with culling a native and uncommon mammal(how many of you have actually seen live badgers on a regular basis) based on controversial and highly debatable scientific conjecture.

[Octavius]

"I know I've not heard a single female in the media condone this cull."

Clarissa Dickson Wright has always been very vocal in her support. She even suggests that we should eat them. As is Kate Hoey, Chairman of the Countryside Alliance.

Having said that, I'm not really sure what gender has got to do with it.

[shoota]

Morning all....
Khandro, dunnitall - the points both of you make are addressed in my links and shown to be wrong.
Sika re proliferating but their range is currently relatively limited. It is the incredible breeding success of Roe and Fallow that is causing problems and encroachment into urban areas.

[shoota]

Sika Are proliferating (got a sticky 'a') ^^^

[pixie373]

Thanks for clarifying DrFilth. So there doesn't seem to be any justification, even superficially.
Why is the number of deer an issue, too? Only humans are so overpopulated that they ruin the environment.