francine Posted August 27, 2013 Report Share Posted August 27, 2013 So the cull has started for the badger, 150 a day starting today down south. RSPCA have a petition for people who are against this hideous crime.Go on line and sign this worthy cause. Grrrr... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted August 27, 2013 Report Share Posted August 27, 2013 Depends whether you want healthy livestock AND healthy wild animals really. I wouldn't be so kneejerk about this. Allow TB to flourish and we will end up with devestation on our farms and throughout the wild animal population. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted August 27, 2013 Report Share Posted August 27, 2013 I really don't understand what the animal rights muppets are complaining about. There is strong evidence that badgers play a major role in passing bovine TB from one herd to another, so the plan is to have a trial cull of badgers in a limited area. It'll either work, or it won't. Bovine TB in the trial areas will either decrease, or it won't. Then we'll know. That's the whole point of a trial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted August 27, 2013 Report Share Posted August 27, 2013 That is the bit I don't get though. There was a scientific bloke interviewed on TV today (I can't remember his name) but he was one of the chaps who instigated the very first trials of badger culling years back in the hope of eradicating bTB and he was basically saying it was a waste of time. Although it had some effect the success rate was no where near as high as expected. Seems that Scotland and Wales (was it Wales maybe not but you can google) have really low rated of bTB now and it has been done through immunisation rather than culling. I know this latest cull is just a trial but to me killing god knows how many badgers 'just to see' is pretty barbaric especially as they are targeting any that just happen to be out and about in the firing line... quite literally. If it turns out they were completely wrong will they send a letter of apology to orphaned little Billy the Badger of Grandad Badgy who's left alone after seeing his whole family wiped out by a paid marksman ? Ok so maybe that last sentence was a bit silly... but for years badgers and their sets have been protected by law. Seems that's changed now then.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted August 27, 2013 Report Share Posted August 27, 2013 The Minister responsible quoted a 23% reduction in bovine TB in Eire, following a cull; but I'm still bemused as to why they don't vaccinate the cattle and the badgers, as in Scotland and Wales? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted August 28, 2013 Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 I really don't understand what the animal rights muppets are complaining about. There is strong evidence that badgers play a major role in passing bovine TB from one herd to another, so the plan is to have a trial cull of badgers in a limited area. It'll either work, or it won't. Bovine TB in the trial areas will either decrease, or it won't. Then we'll know. That's the whole point of a trial. Difficult to chose between the so called 'animal rights muppets' and the muppets in government. If this is only a trial and then we will know, why then have the government cancelled five badger vaccine trials. If badgers are responsible for the spreading of TB then why not cull deer, goats, pigs, dogs and cats who can also spread the disease. There is evidence to say that TB is mostly spread from cattle to cattle rather than from badgers, as there are areas in the country where there are no badgers but there are infected cattle. While partly agreeing that a cull may well see a reduction in the numbers of infected cattle I find it hard to agree with anything the so called government experts say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted August 28, 2013 Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 Immunised cattle are still carriers of TB and cannot legally be exported, milked, or allowed to enter the human food chain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted August 28, 2013 Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 In which case, why are the Scots doing it? No more exports of Aberdeen Angus steaks then?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted August 28, 2013 Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 By no means all cattle in Scotland or Wales are immunised - only a tiny minority, in fact. And those beasts that are either rare breed collections or, more often, herds of young male dairy cows which most farmers would have just culled at birth, but some have now started to fatten up intensively for pet food. Over 28,000 cattle had to be destroyed last year in England alone after testing positive for TB, 38,000 in the UK as a whole - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-21770711 Set against that, a trial cull of a few thousand badgers to see if they really are at the root of the problem is definitely the lesser of two evils. From what I've read, even if there is solid proof that badgers are a major cause there is no question of a mass cull nationwide. I believe that in that event the plan would be a major (very expensive and long term) program aimed at immunising the badgers themselves and eliminating TB in their populations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted January 14, 2014 Report Share Posted January 14, 2014 Well it seems that the Badger cull was nothing more than a very expensive disaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 By no means all cattle in Scotland or Wales are immunised - only a tiny minority, in fact. And those beasts that are either rare breed collections or, more often, herds of young male dairy cows which most farmers would have just culled at birth, but some have now started to fatten up intensively for pet food. Inky, are you sure?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Load of bullocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
algy Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 Load of bullocks. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted January 16, 2014 Report Share Posted January 16, 2014 And a few heffers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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