Badger Cull To End

[ChillDoubt]

As it's been a failure and failed to reach its (revised) target, even after an extension.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-25155208

Back to the drawing board!

[janbee]

Did anybody REALLY think it would actually work? Oh, I suppose Cammy and his hunting, shooting, fishing, killing, mob did. Cammy & Co do far more damge to the countryside than any badger ever could.

[Sqad]

The object of the exercise was to curb the spread of TB in cattle and one can only assess the result over a period of years and not months.

janbee.......what has Cameron got to do with it.

[ChillDoubt]

Not wishing to argue Sqad but I believe the idea also was to reduce the badger population by 70%, subsequently revised down to 58%, which they still failed to do by only making it to 30%.

Still, I'll wager someone somewhere made a tidy packet out of failure, yet again!

[Prudie]

Badger culling was proposed long before Cameron came in. Still some bloodlust has been satisfied so it can't be all bad.

[tamborine]

Bit late with drawing board, after giving land owners an excuse to use 'high powered' guns.

[viv38]

GOOD !!!

[anotheoldgit]

ChillDoubt

/// Not wishing to argue Sqad but I believe the idea also was to reduce the badger population by 70%, subsequently revised down to 58%, which they still failed to do by only making it to 30%. ///

How do they know how many badgers there were in the first place, or did someone count each one independently?

[gness]

Thank god....the most ill thought out operation......but as Prudie says some have had their kicks out of it.

My dream dinner guest tonight would be Peter Kendall......☻

[sp1814]

Corredtion:

"with specific technical [i[skills[i].

[corylus]

Badgers 1 Government 0

Hurray

[humbersloop]

are these those cunning, goalpost moving badgers??

[wolf63]

Why don't we vote in the Badger Party for the next govt. S-) (sarcastic smile).

There seemed to be no scientific proof that it was the badgers that was spreading the TB. But humans have a history of killing what gets in the way.

[ludwig]

They'd already started blaming the badgers weeks ago. Apparently they weren't playing fair by creeping around at night and hiding in the day. Deliberately trying to avoid being killed. Sneaky little b*st&rds.

[gness]

Ludwig.....you keep this to yourself now....I have been knitting and issuing camouflage outfits to the badgers....they're everywhere.....☺

I have offered to make black and white furry overalls for the shooters but they haven't got back to me yet....can't think why.☻

[LazyGun]

Definitely back to the drawing board. To see the benefits of such a cull - a significant drop in the rates of tuberculosis amongst the dairy herds in the UK - (16% decrease over 5 years) it was estimated that a cull aimed at killing 70% of the badgers within the designated area was required.

This whole exercise was a trial to test whether this was possible. It has signally failed in all of its key objectives. Free shooting of badgers at night has been proven not to be able to generate the numbers of dead badgers required - no surprises, and the government were repeatedly warned that this was the case. They chose to go ahead with free-shooting because it was the cheapest option. If you are going to cull - trapping and killing should have been used.
Other options should be explored. Vaccination of the herds would offer the best solution, it seems to me.

[ludwig]

If they'd have thought it through properly they would have culled the cattle that are infected with TB. They're bigger, move slower, and hang around on open land during daylight hours.

[Baldric]

You mean these Guys Sloopy?

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTwHlZgh5jN3Rr6tvcBmcbJCW1O2Pd7gH7T32uPkL6EKLWQsMDZ