Badger Cull Protest

I have been reading about this in the papers and on the internet. I wish they would try and sort a vaccine out rather than cull beautiful Badgers. They are a protected species and should stay that way. sambuka

Your right Sambuka, the sooner they see the sense of getting the vaccine, in steard of killing the Badgers the better
WS

A petition from 38 Degrees - stop the badger cull.

I've just signed the petition to stop the plan to cull thousands of badgers next spring.

Cow TB is a terrible problem. It leads to the slaughter of thousands of cows, costs millions of pounds, and places terrible strain on farmers and their families.

But the government has scrapped trials of badger vaccines. They fail to compensate farmers for the full impact of the disease. Instead they're proposing to launch a badger shooting plan which their own experts say won't solve the problem.

Together, we can persuade the government to invest in a long-term, science-led approach to cow TB. We can stand up for real solutions not unscientific political gestures. And we can make sure that thousands of wild creatures aren't needlessly slaughtered in the process.

When hundreds of thousands of us signed the 38 Degrees petition against England's forests being sold off, that helped persuade the government to cancel the plans. Now we can do the same to protect badgers with a huge petition against these plans to shoot them.

Please sign the petition to stop the proposals on badger culling:
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/badgers-petition

Lai

Found this

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mary-creagh/government-has-got-it-wro_b_904793.html

and this

http://environmentaleducationuk.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/badger-cull-update-what-it-all-means/

How many badgers will be culled?

Defra estimates that between 1,000 and 1,500 badgers would be culled in a 150sq.km over four years. There will be a maximum of 40 areas licensed over four years, indicating in excess of 40,000 badgers could be culled. The national badger population is estimated to number 250,000 to 300,000.

Lai

In the first report it is clear once again that culling does not work in the long term, all the evidence confirms that. As the comment says it is short term political expediancy. Have they thought through what the end will be if they kill off all the Badgers ?.
I think the following comment that was posted on the first report, is very true, and is a lesson to all those that think they can solve a problem by killing off the species that is causing it

"A true story: Armadillos were annoying Texas farmers by digging in the cotton fields so they killed off the armadillos­. Then fire ants started spreading unchecked through the fields so the farmers started spraying insecticid­e everywhere­. It washed off into the reservoirs and children downstream started dying of liver cancer. So they stopped spraying and started killing the mounds by pouring pesticides on them, one mound at a time. Then boll weevils spread like wildfire through the cotton fields and ruined the crop. Turns out the armadillos were digging up the fire ant mounds and eating the larvae. The fire ants were in the cotton fields because they were eating the boll weevil larvae. So if they'd just left everything alone the fire ants would have kept the boll weevils down, the armadillos would have kept the fire ants down, and all the children who died of liver cancer would have lived to grow up.

I hope the people who are planning to kill off the badgers have really thought this thing through"

WS.

WS - nature finds it's own balance. Destroy one species and the balance is no longer there.

Why do we think we know best?

Lai

Looking through the net and found this on the badger cull:

Extract from Farmers Weekly Interactive:

Thanks SM at least it puts more doubt on the long term success of culling. In the Wildlife Patrol progames on last week. They estimated some 10,000 Badgers a year are the victims of road kill, thats apart from the ones killed unlawfully. So you can imagine the devastating effect of culling on top of that
WS

I think most farmers would accept vaccination as an alternative - so we need to keep up the pressure. Culling is so not the answer, why do the suits think they know what does on in the real world?

Lai

WS

The more doubt of a cull NOT being he way to go the better and as Natural England is the Governments Wildlife Adviser you would hope they would sit up and take notice of what is being reported to them.

I have a niggling fear though that the Government stance may have something else going on behind the scenes.

SM

Yes Lai, my uncle has a 170 acres farm back home for dairy farming. The land has both cattle and badgers. He would be happy not to have to kill the badgers with a vaccination alternative.

Though it may be controversial to say but I understand where he comes from as the Cattle are is livelihood and he will protect that first and foremost.

SM

I agree SM - I am not disputing farmers rights to protect their livelihood at all, I am sure if I were a farmer I would feel strongly about bovine TB, but the solution is not culling. It would be wonderful if just for once 'they' thought through the issue properly before randomly coming up with such a ludicrous, totally insane so called solution.

On a happy note on Wednesday night driving back from collecting Pete (pub night) we saw a young badger in the field. Fit and well and full of beans, it did a runner (wisely) when it saw the headlights, but it made our evening

Lai

I also agree SM. Coming from farming country, and working on farms when I was young, I dont blame the Farmers from protecting their livestock, and livelyhood. It's what we'd all do. It's just a question of the best way of doing it, without the most damage to our wildlife
WS

the pilot areas for the cull have been announced.

Its a shame that this is going ahead and that money that could be spent on finding a vaccine is going to be spent on killing animal which in my opinion have been made a scapecoat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16627675

Thanks for the link PPH. I also found this.

Extract from BBC Wildlife magazine - February

Badger Cull announced.

Badger culling in two trial areas in England will begin in the autumn, environment secretary Caroline Spleman has said. The culls will be undertaken over a period of 6 weeks by shooting running-free badgers. As assessment on their effectiveness will be made before extending the cull over a maximum of 10 years.

Lai

This really saddens me too PPH, it is a waste of lives and has also been proved that it is not effective. I also worry that some Badgers will be shot and not killed outright and there will be undue suffering. I am sure that some badgers will also be killed unecessarily as I am certain that not all Badgers carry Bovine TB.

Sadly many cubs could be killed too as I am certain they are just going to try and destroy sets of Badgers. I had a feeling badgers could breed at any time of the year and I was worried many cubs could be left without their mothers. So I looked for more clarification on this and found this.

Breeding - there is no fixed breeding season for badgers, they can breed at any time of the year. Delayed implantation means the development of any fertilised eggs is suspended until an environmental factor triggers the fertilised eggs to be implanted into the uterus and continue normal growth. Irrelevant of when mating took place, this implantation almost always occurs around December.
The badger cubs are born 6 - 8 weeks later, February being the main month for giving birth. A litter of cubs can be up to 6 in number but 3 or 4 is more common.

This proves that in August there will be a lot of 6 month old cubs around and they will either be destroyed or left without their mothers.

I do not believe the Goovernment have this right and I too believe money should be spent on producing a vaccine and protecting cattle farming areas from the badgers.
Farmers will have to meet certain criteria to get a liscence to shoot but will they stick to the criteria once they have a liscence and now the areas have been announced I am also worried that idiots who enjoy shooting animals will illegally join in the shooting spree for fun and will the Police truely ensure that only legal shooting goes on????? i am sure they will be more concerned that the farmers get protected that the poor Badgers.

I am truely upset by this.
littlewid-x-

This is horrible, I understand farmers needing to protect livelihoods etc.

But nature strikes a natural balance that be affected.

I once saw a badger running down the edge of the road in Cornwall whilst I was driving home one night. I stopped the car so I could watch it disappear into the hedge row.

Ttmx

So any ideas on what we can do now? Surely we cannot give up on the vaccine idea?

Link to the Badger Trust home page. http://www.nfbg.org.uk/Content/Home.asp
and an Extract on the culling

What about elsewhere?
• No badgers have been killed in Scotland yet it is officially bTB free.
• Badgers have been culled in the Republic of Ireland but bTB remains a big problem.
The intention is to replace culling with badger vaccination and cattle controls.
• In Wales the Welsh Assembly Government has issued a Consultation document on their
proposal to cull badgers in Pembrokeshire and adjacent areas. The Consultation runs
from 20th September to 17th December 2010.

The ISG (Independent Scientific Group) finally concluded that: “badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to
the control of bTB”.

Lai

I don't listen to The Archers on Radio 4 but news today is ...

Ambridge votes for a badger vaccination programme

Glad to see The Archers are taking this stance hopefully this will highlight the ludicrous idea of the cull even more.

Lai

I have signed the 38 degrees petition Lai. What can we do, I don't know. I know a few of us wrote to our MP's about the culling and they either were not interested or supported the cull. I suppose we can try writing again or could we try and gain support from other wildlife sites that will either join forces in voicing opinions to the Government or does anyone know a serious Blogger out there ( not a fluffy blog) that runs a hard hitting blog that highlights these issues and has access/knowledge to hit the people who are making these decisions.
Serious bloggers ( for want of a better title) take things to the press.
Anyone know of anyone able to do this? they do get results.

littlewid-x-

Good idea Littlewid. I know our MP sat on the fence about this I think I'll try and get in touch with our local Badger Group and see what they suggest.

Lai

A few useful links

Badgerland
The definitive factually-accurate on-line guide to Badgers in the UK

http://www.badgerland.co.uk

Badger Trust
Badger Trust promotes the conservation and welfare of badgers and the protection of their setts and habitats for the public benefit. We are the leading voice for badgers and represent and support around 60 local voluntary badger groups. Badger Trust provides expert advice on all badger issues and works closely with Government, the police and other conservation and welfare organisations

http://www.nfbg.org.uk/content/home.asp

I'm going to join our local group - will keep you posted.

Lai

Thank you for the links Lai. I have checked where my local group is and I am going to join as well. I know we have Badger sets round here because unfortunately I do see dead Badgers on the road, so If I can help our group in any way it would be a pleasure as like you I have rather a soft spot for badgers.
I will also keep you posted.

littlewid-x-

I forgot to say last night as we were coming back at about 8.30pm a badger scampered across the field just in front of us, it was lovely to see him/her in the headlights. Sensibly he was not for hanging around

Lai

We manged to stop it in Wales, so I hope it can be stopped in England. All the research shows that culls do'nt work
WS