Badger Cull to go ahead

[jedimistress]

Surprise surprise the badger cull is going ahead and all badgers to be killed in an area of Wales. It annoys me when farmers describe themselves as guardians of the countryside yet are hell bent on destroying anything that gets in their way.

They spent plenty of our money on a government survey which was unable to conclude that there was a link between badgers and cattle, yet it goes ahead anyway. Sorry but it really is awful, and to think they are a protected species.

Poor babies.

http://www.badger.org.uk/Content/Home.asp

Not to be confused with www.badgerbadgerbadger.com

[persianlady]

It is very upsetting to hear that they are going to go ahead and do this. I just hope that they do it humanely, but I doubt that they will.
This maybe a stupid question, but cant they treat the badgers for TB and thus eliminate the risk? Or does it all come down to cost , as usual?

[gelda]

How do they know it's the badgers giving it to the cows, has anyone thought it could be the other way round!

[tigerlily11]

Farmers are about as adept at looking after the land as the rest of us. Its just another excuse to get rid of something else that is sharing there land. Look at the problems they caused over mad cows desease
But the experts arn't any better at it. They say if you put all the scientist and experts end to end they still wouldn't reach a conclusion.
They don't know and If the bovine TB continues who else will they blame.

[Whickerman]

Actually gelda, that is a very real possibility.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/0 61003191736.htm
Quote "Today's report also provides the first evidence of widespread TB transmission from cattle to badgers. Woodroffe's team found that in 2001, when a nationwide epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease in England temporarily halted routine TB testing of cattle, infection rates in badgers doubled. At this time, infected cattle remained in their herds and the researchers suggest that this allowed them to transmit the disease to other cattle and to badgers."

also
http://www.badgers.org.uk/badgerpages/eurasian -badger-26.html

[gelda]

Very interesting reading Whickerman.

[amonty1144]

From the defra website:

The sum of evidence strongly supports the view that, in Britain, badgers are a significant source of infection in cattle. Most of this evidence is indirect, consisting of correlations rather than demonstrations of cause and effect; but in total the available evidence, including the effects of completely removing badgers from certain areas, is compelling.

My comment is, badgers are not babies! They are a pest, if they didn't look cute, would you still be opposed to the cull?

[jedimistress]

Yes most certainly.

When I read the DEFRA quote you posted, who have been out killing badgers for ages, I thought you were against the cull and pointing out the flimsiness of the non evidence.

I love your "cuddly animal" argument. That one never fails to make me giggle. Jeremy Vine was patronisingly using it last week to try to discredit the people who are against the killings.

All animals regardless of fur, feather, looks should be protected (aren't badgers a protected species?) against the barbarity, greed and selfishness of humans.