It seems to pro hunt/cull crowd are in a bit of a panic. All of this in one short week. Desperation.
Read what the farmer in this story says. Basically he wants more culling and more areas subject to culling and anyone who objects is obviously a liberal politician. These people whinge and whine away because they know the scapegoat animal is not to blame and there are strong hunting connections and killing badgers can, as one shooter put it, "be a big earner".
And the great British 'animal loving' public sit on their asses watching TV and do not care less.
The Badger trust:
"Badgers are not to blame for bTB in cattleBovine TB is a respiratory disease in cattle. The primary transmission source is cattle to cattle. Yet badgers are still the starting point for blame.
"There are no examples of any self-sustaining reservoirs of bovine TB among badgers, even among the longest studied APHA research group at Woodchester (though these badgers appear to have been shot during the cull).
"Based on Defra monitoring, bovine TB is found in a wide variety of species other than cattle, including alpacas, badgers, cats, deer, dogs, foxes, mice, rats and sheep. It has even been found in single-celled organisms."
Read that bit again: ""There are no examples of any self-sustaining reservoirs of bovine TB among badgers, even among the longest studied APHA research group at Woodchester (though these badgers appear to have been shot during the cull). "
And there you have it. Political culling of badgers because what science was used to decide that a group of badgers tested and shown not to have TB needed to be culled to prevent TB? The cull is political and politicians pushing it against the scientific facts are in the pockets of large farmers and other countryside bodies who want shooting to continue for financial and also possible 'fun'.
People outside the UK are calling the badger the "scapegoat" and say the cull makes no sense.
250,000+ badgers "culled" on top of the 100,000 killed on roads every year and goodness knows how many killed in snares and illegal shooting.
Animal husbandry is what needs to be looked at and a viable alternative? Vaccination so why does the UK not do that?
"These are considered safe commodities. Live cattle: WOAH standards make no provision for vaccination of cattle against TB at present, as BCG vaccination interferes with internationally-accepted tuberculin-based tests which underpin current criteria for certifying herds free of TB."
So we want out of Europe etc and also have a vaccine but will not use it and killing wildlife is simpler and as these people know the cull IS political with political candidates getting backing from big farmers and financial contributions.
Badgers already face extinction and what if every badger is wiped out and BTB continues -foxes? Wipe them all out then...field mice?
Start at the source and where the responsibility lies; with the farmer.
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