The Badger Cull

[C Hall 552]

@ Paulus youtube post.

[Bunny Boiler 177]

 

I like to think Brian Blessed does to badgers as Ozzie Osborne did to bats.

[bird 9,930]

the farmers need to make a living and keep the price of beef down for an ever increasing population but although a cull will help down south it wont help the norther farmer..

 

maybe the farmer should be able to apply/register to have some body clear his land by what ever method allowed. im sure the farmer would see it as progress but i dont think the protected status will ever get removed

 

true, but i was talking to my wife about the Brock prob, and i dont know if TB is only passed on to cattle, and not other animals. Why dont farmers finish with cattle, and make a living with pigs+sheep, that way there(not) going to be out of pocket using other animals.My self i dont eat much beef, to honest maybe the odd steak once a month, but eat loads of pork ,and lamb and fish.The Brock still need to be control, no dout about as there loadsabout just like foxes need to be. But not sure but i dont think red meat (beef) is as popular as it was say 30 years ago, it makes sence to me for farmers to go in a differnt direction, and produce a meat which is more popular to joe public .

[Matt 160]

Ray, badgers pass TB onto lots of other species, including DEER, FERRETS, CATS, PIGS, ALPACAS and many more.

 

You can't expect farmers to just stop farming cattle in cattle areas and sit back and watch the TB problem escalate. The reason it's linked to cattle so much is because cattle are routinely tested for TB unlike other species.

 

I'm not going to comment much further on this subject because it's close to my heart having worked on disease control for MAFF like one or two other members of this forum.

 

But I will say that this is the best chance we've had to do something positive about TB since the Thornbury trials. The RBCT simply failed to kill enough badgers and was more about proving a point in a scientific way than actually controlling badgers.

[bird 9,930]

Ray, badgers pass TB onto lots of other species, including DEER, FERRETS, CATS, PIGS, ALPACAS and many more.

 

You can't expect farmers to just stop farming cattle in cattle areas and sit back and watch the TB problem escalate. The reason it's linked to cattle so much is because cattle are routinely tested for TB unlike other species.

 

I'm not going to comment much further on this subject because it's close to my heart having worked on disease control for MAFF like one or two other members of this forum.

 

But I will say that this is the best chance we've had to do something positive about TB since the Thornbury trials. The RBCT simply failed to kill enough badgers and was more about proving a point in a scientific way than actually controlling badgers.

 

 

fair enough Matt, i (didnt know) they pass it on to other animals as well. Yeh your right then,

[RubyTex 1,957]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2404532/Anti-badger-cull-group-claim-torched-16m-police-firing-range.html

[raymond1 262]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2404532/Anti-badger-cull-group-claim-torched-16m-police-firing-range.html

well if the content of that link are true then those badger loving b*****ds should be shot themselves , they are as bad as muslim terrorists

Brian May's name keeps appearing and he should be charged with inciting damage and intimidating farmers and their livelihood

[lapin2008 1,587]

They're fundamentalists same as the gihadis, just a different cause!

[The one 8,481]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2404532/Anti-badger-cull-group-claim-torched-16m-police-firing-range.html

Maybe the cops will retaliate and do something now

[keepdiggin 9,561]

should be allowed to dig to them still imo

[Kevj 433]

Should have a cull on the filthy anti scum as well

[sam007 34]

Well this topic proves it .

There a lot of guys on here who have more mouth than brains!

It's wonderful how there are sooo many experts on here when even the best scientists in the country

admit they don't really know how to control bovine TB.

It is my opinion (and only an opinion )is to leave it to the farmers.

they will control if necessary.

Some of my farmers want to cull on their farm but some have clean badgers

and they know that if they are culled infected ones may move in

So it must be better to give the farmers the choice the problem is theirs

and the should deal with it and they would .

Sam

[Matt 160]

 

Farmers in the cull zones are being given the choice.

 

If they want their badgers culled, they have to agree to it, and pay for it.

 

Those who advocate digging badgers again will have a long wait. There is no appetite for digging either from the government or the public at large.

 

What is going on now is a trial to prove that it's humane to shoot badgers with rifles, and that enough can be shot to make a difference to TB.

 

As I understand it, things are going OK in West Somerset, and they are shooting lots of badgers with little or no real impact from the protesters.

 

Guys, I beg you, please be careful what you write on here about this at the moment. Everything is being recorded, and will be used against us. There is a big hoo haa at the moment because someone joked on a farming forum about blowing up a sett. Special Branch are investigating (yes, I know it's mad!) and the antis are using it to publicise their cause.

 

Be like dad, and keep mum.............

[Leeview 791]

Matt the rat you seem to know a lot about this cull, I have nt seen an answer to my question anywhere;

Are the badger carcasses being tested for TB? and how long would it be still present in a carcase?

hopefully when the figures are released (might take 25yrs FOI act)and show the percentage of badgers that actually were carrying the TB virus, which could shut the anti's up or have them crowing from the rooftops IMHO

Y.I.S Leeview

[Matt 160]

Matt the rat you seem to know a lot about this cull, I have nt seen an answer to my question anywhere;

Are the badger carcasses being tested for TB? and how long would it be still present in a carcase?

hopefully when the figures are released (might take 25yrs FOI act)and show the percentage of badgers that actually were carrying the TB virus, which could shut the anti's up or have them crowing from the rooftops IMHO

Y.I.S Leeview

Lee

 

Any carcasses given PM's (a sample amount of 60 from each of the two cull areas) will also be tested for TB.

 

This cull is not to prove that badgers carry and spread TB; that is already well known and documented. The pilots are to ascertain if culling using this method is humane, and if enough badgers can be killed to make an impact on TB.

 

One of the major failings of the RBCT (or Krebs trials) was that not enough badgers were killed. There were pockets of badgers left, and the animal rights people not only cut up cages used, but also removed badgers and released them just outside the cull zones. This had the effect of spreading TB and causing a 'spike' just outside the reactive culling areas, and has been put down to 'perturbation' (the migration of remaining badgers when social groups are disrupted).

 

The RBCT was flawed from the start. It was based on scientific modelling, and was far too focussed on setts and not focussed enough on activity. The result of that was that you could have a farm down with TB, with badgers running around on it nightly, but no setts, so no trapping.

 

In the days of the BRO (Badger Removal Orders) badgers were cage trapped, tested using the PCN test, and either released if clear of TB or euthanised if infected. The badger lovers campaigned against it because there were difficulties with the accuracy of the testing, and some clean badgers failed the test and were euthanised. This is the system being trialled in Northern Ireland again now.

 

Initial results will be available within the year; but it takes time to PM badgers and they won't start doing it until the 6 week cull is complete. Patterns of herd breakdown will need to be assessed over a longish period of time, probably five years, but given the experience of the RBCT I suspect the impact will be obvious much sooner. Last week there was a farmer on the radio who has been clear of TB since the ministry took 100 badgers off his farm 5 years ago.

 

As I say, the fact that badgers carry and spread TB is already known; the impact of large scale culling is already known (google 'Thornbury'), what is really being trialled is the practicality of shooting large numbers of badgers with rifles.